FROM HERE TO THE GREAT UNKNOWN consists of transcripts from Marie Presley (LM) tapes of her recollections that was co written by her daughter Riley Keough and published posthumously. Riley submits her reflections mirroring her mom's accounts which gives credence and gravitas to both their perspectives.. This melancholy memoir is a riveting and sobering look at the turbulence and loneliness of LM's childhood and her struggles as an adult. LM passed away in January of 2023 at the age of 54 preceded in death by the suicide of her son Ben at age 27. There are revelatory shocking descriptions of LM being sexually abused by one of Priscilla's boyfriends, her mother's downplaying of her accounts and reluctance to terminate their relationship. After LM's son killed himself, she kept his body on ice in her home for two months. She left her marriage to the father of Riley and Ben for Michael Jackson. And, although she doesn't delve into her marriage with Jackson she did say, "I was actually so happy. I've never been that happy again...I feel really, really lucky that he let me in. I fell in Leo with him because he was normal, just fucking normal." It was not possible for LM's life to be "normal" with such a famous father. A major take-away throughout is the strong bond and love between LM and her dad. Riley attests to her mom's love for Jackson. "She told me that no one ever came close to being like her dad apart from Michael." Her other 3 marriages, including a brief one to Nicholas Cage, did not receive much in the way of positive or negative feelings except for her first marriage to Danny Keough. "He's always, always been there for me. ...We shared every single family vacation together. We made it really great for them." LM's childhood is interwoven with happy times at Graceland with her cousins and friends. But, she felt torn away from her dad by her mom who she felt never wanted her. "My mom made me live with her again-but again I was miserable, so I was a terror. It was clear she didn't want me there." LM never focused in school and never graduated high school. For a time, LM lived in the Scientology's Celebrity Centre as a teen but gives little insight into this period. After leaving the Centre LM began getting addicted to pills. LM speaks often of her deep love for her 4 children. She shared, "I really had no prototype to follow growing up. I had no family life, no home life to be an example, ever. No stability." Kiley differed by saying, "From my point of view, we were a close, normal family." There were a solid two decades where our family felt very normal to me." The following lament by LM sums up the majority of her downcast life. "I don't know who I am-I never really got the chance to uncover my own identity. I didn't have a family. I didn't have a childhood." Though overwhelmingly LM had a despairing life filled with woe, it also shows adversity, grace and empathy to be gleaned from both mother and daughter.
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