Lisa Marie Presley’s Death Caused by a Medical Complication Following Weight-Loss Surgery

The cause of Lisa Marie Presley‘s death in January has been revealed to be a “sequelae of a small bowel obstruction,” per People.

The autopsy report obtained by the outlet detailed that the bowel obstruction developed following bariatric (weight-loss) surgery Presley underwent several years prior, specifically from adhesions that formed after the procedure. According to Deadline, the report explains that this is a “known long term complication of [bariatric] surgery.”

Her ex-husband Danny Keough reportedly was the one to find her unresponsive at her Calabasas home on January 12. She was then hospitalized and pronounced dead the same day.

The same autopsy report, which was conducted by Deputy Medical Examiner Dr. Juan Carrillo, noted that Presley had a temporary pacemaker implanted upon arriving in the emergency room. After being admitted into the ICU, the doctors took scans and discovered that she had an extreme anoxic brain injury (meaning that her brain lacked oxygen). She went into cardiac arrest at 4:48 p.m. and was pronounced dead twenty minutes later.

Presley, who had attended the Golden Globes days before with her mother Priscilla, had been experiencing “abdominal pain for the past few months,” but “did not seek medical attention” beforehand. In the report, Carrillo also acknowledged that she had a “distended abdomen for years.” For months before her passing, Presley had reportedly been feeling feverish, nauseous, and was vomiting.

According to CNN, the toxicology results showed that “therapeutic” levels of oxycodone were found in her bloodstream. An antidepressant called quetiapine metabolite, as well as norbuprenorphine and buprenorphine, which treat opioid addiction, were found in her system, but didn’t contribute to her passing, according to the coroner.

The report included that Presley ” had a history of overmedicating” and “was known to forget she had taken her medications and would take them again.” While the report also mentioned that “she had a history of alcohol abuse and illicit drug use in the past… she had reportedly been clean from both since 2015.” Additionally, the report stated that “she smoked approximately 1 pack of cigarettes daily.”

The only child of rockstar Elvis Presley was 54 when she passed. She had followed in the footsteps of her father, and released three rock music albums between 2003 and 2012. Her and ex-husband Keough have two children together: Riley (34) and Ben, who died in 2020 at 27. Presley was buried alongside her son in January.