Lisa Marie Presley’s health struggles evident in interview

(NewsNation) — Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis’ only daughter, died Thursday after being hospitalized for a medical emergency. She was 54.

According to multiple media reports, Presley went into cardiac arrest. A spokesperson from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department told The Hollywood Reporter that deputies responded to a residence in Calabasas for a female in her 50s who suffered a cardiac arrest, but did not confirm her name.

Just two days before her death, Presley attended the Golden Globe Awards, where she supported actor Austin Butler, who played her father in the “Elvis” biopic.

Billy Bush, the host of “Extra,” said he was the last person to interview Presley before she walked into the awards show. During a Thursday appearance on NewsNation, Bush said, “She was off” during the interview.

“When the interview was over, I said to my crew, ‘Something’s off.’ There’s no question that she was off. She was a little slow and not quite all there. I say that with a heavy heart,” Bush told NewsNation host Ashleigh Banfield.

Bush said Presley seemed to be a bit delayed during their conversation.

“I can tell you this: We had two steps up onto our platform, and I asked her, you know, ‘Here, let me lend you a hand to come up,'” Bush said. “She was on the arm of Jerry Schilling, who is an old manager of Elvis and a manager of her, too. He was a member of the Memphis Mafia and a great friend. He was holding her arm and she was very much relying on his support for balance. She spoke very slowly.”

Still, her untimely death is shocking for Bush and many others.

“Two nights ago, it did not strike me that something like this could happen, although I did say she does not seem to be in the best place on that red carpet,” Bush said.

He continued: “I can’t believe it. I just talked to her two days ago. It’s just stunning to me how life turns on a dime.”

Bush added that her involvement with the “Elvis” movie and her bond with actor Butler was a light in her life.

“Austin really did a great job of reaching out to Priscilla and Lisa Marie and forged an incredible bond in the process,” Bush said, later mentioning, “He was one of the bright lights in her life before this moment, before she passed.”

Bush noted that Lisa Marie Presley went through an unfathomable amount of pain, and struggled throughout her life with experiences that must have left her scarred.

Elvis Presley died when Lisa Marie Presley was 9 years old. She found him lying face down in a bathroom at his Graceland mansion in Memphis. Lisa Marie Presley’s son, Benjamin Keough, died by suicide in 2020 at the age of 27.

“Her father, her son — this could be relief. Right now, she’s with the both of them. It could be a relief,” Bush said. “We know the struggles and I know she loved him so much. I like to think that she’s with him right now,”

Bush said his heart goes out to Lisa Marie Presley’s family.

Dr. Dave Montgomery, a board-certified cardiologist and host of “The Good Doctor,” said on “Morning in America” that many aspects can lead to someone having cardiac issues, such as genetics or drug use.

“There’s a number of things that can play together,” he said. “I think we should respect what Priscilla (Presley) said. And that is to give them some privacy before we speculate too much.”

Montgomery said that across the board, but especially in women, incidences of heart attacks and heart failure for those ages 35-54 are going up.

“The bottom line when somebody has a cardiac arrest is trying to figure out why the person had a cardiac arrest,” Dr. Saju Mathew said.

Many people who suffer cardiac arrest actually have structural heart disease, Mathew said.

“It might be a blockage of the vessels that supply the heart, it could be damaged muscle, it could be scarring,” he said. “Risk factors that raise your risk of having heart disease are the same risk factors that increase your risk for having a cardiac arrest,”

These include obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Unfortunately, though, in some cases, the cause is never known, Mathew said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.