Lisa Marie Presley’s recently-published posthumous memoir, “From Here to the Great Unknown,” includes a stunning revelation: Presley aborted a child fathered by Danny Keough — a decision she said “destroyed” her.
In the memoir, Presley recounts that her first pregnancy with Keough ended because it was ectopic. She then got pregnant a second time, and neither she nor Keough knew what to do.
WESTWOOD, CA – JUNE 13: Lisa Marie Presley and husband Danny Keough attend the “The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear” Westwood Premiere on June 13, 1991 at Mann Bruin Theatre in Westwood, California. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
“I ended up having an abortion. And it was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my whole life. I was devastated,” Presley wrote. “I did it and we both cried. We were both destroyed and not long after that we fell apart and broke up. I couldn’t live with myself.”
Lisa Marie Presley, close-up; circa 1990; New York. (Photo by Art Zelin/Getty Images)
In fact, the abortion haunted her so much that she “planned and plotted and schemed” to have another child with Keough as a sort of reparation for the one that had been aborted. (This is not an uncommon response among post-abortive women, and is sometimes referred to as an “atonement” baby.)
“I didn’t care if he wanted to be a part of it or not. I felt that I had to redeem, to make amends, because I still couldn’t believe I had had an abortion,” she wrote. “I thought, I’m going to have this child. There is a child I need to be having.”
She also recounts talking to her baby, apologizing for what she did, saying, “‘I’m so sorry, I can’t believe I f–king did that. Please forgive me and stay with me until I get pregnant again.'”
Presley had two other children with Keough — daughter Danielle Riley Keough and son Benjamin Keough. She also had two other daughters from her later marriage to Michael Lockwood — twins Finley and Harper.
EXCLUSIVE – Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough seen at the Warner Bros. premiere of “Mad Max: Fury Road” on Thursday, May 7, 2015, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Warner Bros.)
Though many celebrities are outspoken in favor of abortion, there have been others like Presley who have experienced it firsthand and warn about its devastating impact. Singer Chilli of the Grammy-award winning band TLC has spoken about the grief and regret she experienced after aborting her preborn child.
“It messed me up,” she has previously said. “I don’t know; It just, it broke my spirit…” Like Presley, Chilli found herself longing for another pregnancy as a way to make amends for the child she had aborted.
Singer Kaya Jones of the Pussycat Dolls has also been outspoken about the regret she has from her multiple abortions. “You will regret it your whole life,” she has said. “Even if I become a mother tomorrow, and I’m happily married and all is well, I’m still going to regret the three children I did not have.”
Singer Nicki Minaj wrote a song about her abortion regret, with lyrics saying, “Please baby forgive me, mommy was young,” and “To conceive you then leave you, the concept alone seems evil, I’m trapped in my conscience, I adhered to the nonsense, listened to people who told me, I wasn’t ready for you.”
Though not often talked about, abortion trauma and regret are real, with 20% of women in one study found to be struggling with clinical depression after an abortion and 31% of women saying they would not choose to abort again. Multiple studies have shown that abortion significantly increases mental health risks (despite repeated denials from the pro-abortion medical community) with possible consequences including depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. Live Action’s Can’t Stay Silent campaign has shared dozens of stories from women who have experienced abortion and deeply regretted it so much that they have shared their stories in an effort to spare others from experiencing the same trauma.
Author’s Note: If you are experiencing abortion regret, help is available. Find a list of resources, including hotlines, classes, support groups, and websites, here.
