How Riley Keough told mom Lisa Marie about brother Benjamin's death

Riley Keough was the first family member to know about Brother Benjamin Keough's death – then she broke the news to her mother Lisa Marie Presley.

“My mother was sleeping in her hotel room,” Riley, 35, wrote in a new book: From here to the great unknownreleased on Tuesday, October 8th. “I ran to her suite and started knocking on the door.”

The book, which is primarily Lisa Marie's memoir, was co-written by Riley, who finished it after her mother's death in 2023 at the age of 54. The text contained two separate fonts to distinguish who was writing. Riley's point of view is particularly expressed on the day her brother died.

Riley wrote that she received a call at 5:30 a.m. on July 12, 2020. The actress knew immediately that something “serious” had happened, she assumed it was a call about her mother. However, Lisa Marie's assistant told Riley that 27-year-old Benjamin had died by suicide.

“In the moments I knocked on her door, I already knew clearly that it would be a gift to be with her after what was about to happen,” Riley wrote. “I couldn’t imagine her living without my brother.”

Related: Quotes from Lisa Marie Presley and her family about Benjamin Keough

Remembering Benjamin. After Benjamin Keough – Lisa Marie Presley's late son – tragically died by suicide at the age of 27, the Presley family opened up about how they dealt with their loss. “(Lisa Marie) is completely heartbroken, heartbroken and completely devastated but is trying to stay strong for her 11-year-old twins and her eldest daughter (…)”

Benjamin was hosting a party at Lisa Marie's Calabasas home when he “went upstairs” at 3:30 a.m. “He said he was just going to get a beer,” Riley wrote, noting that “it took almost an hour” for partygoers to realize Benjamin was gone. (Lisa Marie lived in a hotel because there was mold in the apartment.)

After I told Lisa Marie and her father, Danny KeoughWhen Riley was informed of her brother's death, she accompanied her mother to her house.

“What did you do, Benjamin?” Riley remembered Lisa Marie asking when they first saw his body. The Daisy Jones and the Six Star wrote that she was “in shock” – a state she remained in for two weeks. The book also revealed that Lisa Marie kept Benjamin's body in the house for two months – “we had to keep the room at 55 degrees – before burying him at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee.”

Riley wrote that her mother's health “deteriorated” in the years after Benjamin's death.

“Despite all that love she still had within her and despite all her struggles in life, we could all see it,” Riley wrote. “We all knew my mother would die of a broken heart.”

Riley was filming a show in Canada when she received a call from her father on January 12, 2023 that Lisa Marie had suffered cardiac arrest. The actress jumped on a plane to Los Angeles.

Related: Lisa Marie Presley over the years

Rock and roll kings. Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley, followed in her father's footsteps and dedicated herself to music. The Tennessee native released three albums throughout her career – To Whom It May Concern (2003), Now What (2005) and Storm & Grace (2012) – and paid homage (…)

“I felt like my mother was floating between two worlds,” Riley wrote, noting that she tried to talk to her mother's “spirit” and make her understand that it was OK to “leave.”

Riley remembered her father's text messages becoming less and less frequent – and she knew it.

“She died a few minutes ago, darling. I didn't want to tell you via text message. But I'm worried about it getting in the papers,” Riley recalled reading her father's message. “I love you so much that I'm really sorry to have to tell you like that. I don’t want you to be surprised when you get off the plane.”

From here to the great unknown is out now.