Six months after her sudden and tragic passing, Lisa Marie Presley‘s official cause of death was finally revealed on Thursday (July 13) by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner.
The 54-year-old musician – and only child of late Rock ‘n’ Roll legend Elvis Presley – died on January 12 this year, just two days after she celebrated Austin Butler’s win at the Golden Globes for his portrayal of her famous father in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis.
She was found unresponsive in her bedroom at her Calabasas home, before being rushed to hospital – where she was later placed in a medically induced coma and declared brain dead.
Reports later detailed that the star suffered two cardiac arrests – one at her home and one on the way to the hospital. Following this, Lisa Marie’s family signed a ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ order, in case she flatlined again.
News of her passing shocked the world, especially as she was survived by three daughters – Riley Keough, 34, and 14-year-old twins Finley and Harper.
Tributes from other famous faces came flooding in for Lisa Marie – with ex-husband Nicholas Cage, to whom she was married from 2002 until 2004, stating that his ex-wife had: “the greatest laugh of anyone I ever met. She lit up every room, and I am heartbroken,” per The Mirror.
Baz Luhrmann also paid tribute, saying: “Over the last year, the entire Elvis movie family and I have felt the privilege of Lisa Marie’s kind embrace. Her sudden, shocking loss has devastated people all around the world. I know her fans everywhere join me in sharing prayers of love and support with her mother, Priscilla, and her wonderful daughters Riley, Finley and Harper.”
This week, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner finally released Lisa Marie’s official cause of death – listing it as “sequelae of small bowel obstruction,” and deeming it “natural”, according to the medical examiner’s report.
“The obstruction was in the form of a strangulated small bowel caused by adhesions that developed after bariatric surgery years ago. This is a known long-term complication of this type of surgery,” the report added.
A small bowel obstruction occurs when the small intestine is blocked – which can often happen due to a number of factors like colon cancer, medication or adhesions (scar tissue) that forms after surgery, the BBC explained.
In Lisa Marie’s case, the autopsy report noted that the scar tissue on her small intestines were as a result of weight-loss surgery (also known as bariatric surgery) that she underwent several years ago.
The examiner also said the mother-of-four – whose only son Benjamin Keough died by suicide in July, 2020 – also had a history of overmedicating and would often repeat her doses if she had forgotten that she’d already taken her prescription medication.
A toxicology report for the star detailed how she had “therapeutic levels” of oxycodone and other medicine in her blood – but these were not considered contributing factors to her death.