Axl Rose pays tribute to Lisa Marie Presley: “I will miss my friend”

Axl Rose has paid tribute to Lisa Marie Presley following her death last week.

Presley, the singer-songwriter and only child of Elvis, died on January 12 at the age of 54, hours after she was rushed to hospital following a cardiac arrest at her home in Calabasas, California.

“I will miss my friend Lisa,” the Guns N’ Roses singer told People in a statement.

“Her passing, just as her son’s, or as a kid, her father’s, doesn’t seem real,” he continued. “Lisa loved her family, all her children. My heart goes out to them.”

Rose also reflected on Presley’s loss of her son Benjamin Keough, who died by suicide in July 2020, aged 27.

“Her son’s passing was shocking, tragic and devastating. It was something that, at a point, you obviously didn’t want to bring up but awkwardly would in an effort to let her know you cared and were thinking about her, about them, and to be of any comfort one could, which she appreciated,” he said.

The singer also recalled sharing “jokes, news articles and lots of animal vids” following her son’s death in an attempt to raise her spirits, and that he tried to “let her know of the constant thinking about her, them, and wanting the best for her”.

“I wanted her to be happy, to feel good about things, at least as much as one could under the circumstances. And really, with the closeness of their relationship, one could hope — but truthfully, it didn’t seem, at least without some real time passing, a reasonable reality,” he added.

“What comes after life who knows but I’d like to think they’re together, her and Ben with her father and Ben’s grandfather in some way, and Lisa, and the most important men in her life are happy together.”

Last week it was shared that Presley will buried next to her son at Graceland.

Rose continued that he was “fortunate enough to hear about her father and her experiences and memories with him first hand”.

“She came to shows and we hung out backstage,” Rose said. “It was always great to see her and she was always fun n’ super supportive.”

He also recalled speaking “a lot” about Baz Luhrmann’s new Elvis movie starring Austin Butler, which she was “very proud of”, especially as it “touched on her father’s love since early childhood of black gospel, and later, the blues”.

“She was very nervous at first of how the public would react to the film because it was so important to her to do right by her father.”

News of Presley’s death was confirmed by her mother, Priscilla, who said in a statement (via the Associated Press) that “my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us. She was the most passionate strong and loving woman I have ever known”.

Tributes have since flooded in from her ex-husband Nicolas Cage as well as the the Michael Jackson estate, and Elvis star Butler.

This week it was confirmed that Lisa Marie Presley‘s surviving three children will reportedly inherit her Graceland estate.

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