Benjamin Keough had quite a bit of grandfather Elvis Presley in him, mom Lisa Marie Presley told CMT years before the 27-year-old’s death of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Calabasas, California, over the weekend, as first reported by TMZ. In October 2012, as Lisa Marie was preparing for the release of her music video, “I Love You Because,” she opened up to the country music outlet to share how her father’s legacy was being passed down to the next generation.
“He does [look so much like Elvis]! [Benjamin] was at the Opry and was the quiet storm behind the stage!” she said with a laugh when asked if she thought her son looked just like Elvis. “Everybody turned around and looked when he was over there. Everybody was grabbing him for a photo because it is just uncanny. Sometimes I am overwhelmed when I look at him.”
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Lisa Marie continued at the time that she felt Elvis’ “spirit lives in his grandchildren,” which she described as “just him.” The musician continued, “They’ve all got a little bit of him in them. They all have their own little traits, and I can just sense it, you know?”
Keough, whose father is Lisa Marie’s ex-husband Danny Keough, may have looked just like his famous family member, but he chose to live his life outside the spotlight and away from the music industry. Sister Riley Keough, meanwhile, has been more comfortable in the public eye, making her own career in film and television. Lisa Marie told PEOPLE in a statement via her representative after news broke of the 27-year-old’s death that she is “beyond devastated.”
“She is completely heartbroken, inconsolable and beyond devastated but trying to stay strong for her 11-year-old twins and her oldest daughter Riley,” representative Roger Widynowski told the outlet. “She adored that boy. He was the love of her life.”
The mother of four did have a particularly close bond with her son, with the two celebrating Mother’s Day in 2009 by getting matching tattoos. In 2012, Lisa Marie explained to a fan on Twitter that the matching artwork was a “Celtic eternity knot” which she said represented their “eternal love and connection.”
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