Lisa Marie Presley's Alleged Addiction Battle Exposes The Immense Pressure Women Face In Hollywood
Elvis's daughter was allegedly battling body image issues.
Joe Seer / Shutterstock The death of Lisa Marie Presley has once again given us a bleak look into how the pressures placed on women, particularly those in the public eye, can be life-ruining.
Presley, the sole daughter of music icon Elvis Presley, died at age 54 on January 12, 2023, after being rushed to the hospital for cardiac arrest.
Recent details surrounding Presley’s tragic death have revealed that drug use may have been the cause of her demise.
Lisa Marie Presley's alleged drug abuse shows the dark side of conventional beauty standards in Hollywood.
Multiple reports stated that, amid a high-profile press run for the movie "Elvis," a biopic about her father's life and death, Presley wanted to look her best. She attended the Golden Globe Awards just days before she died.
Presley is said to have had weight-loss surgery and been consuming weight-loss medication and opioids before the award show.
TMZ claimed that Presley lost around 42 lbs in the weeks leading up to the Golden Globes.
Presley opened up about her opioid addiction following the 2008 birth of her twin daughters, Vivienne and Finley.
"I was recovering after the birth of my daughters when a doctor prescribed me opioids for pain,” Presley claimed in a 2015 book by Harry Nelson, titled 'The United States of Opioids: A Prescription for Liberating A Nation in Pain.'
"It only took a short-term prescription of opioids in the hospital for me to feel the need to keep taking them," Presley continued.
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"I had never openly spoken in public about my own addiction to opioids and painkillers. I wasn't sure that I was ready to share on such a personal topic, Presley said in the book.
But she did speak out, noting, “I have seen too many people I loved struggle with addiction and die tragically from this epidemic. It is time for us to say goodbye to shame about addiction. We have to stop blaming and judging ourselves and the people around us. That starts with sharing our stories."
Opioid addiction is unfortunately too common in the United States. For Presley to speak out about her experience did a small part to normalize the struggles of addiction.
Given how often addiction intersects with other issues such as body image disorders, confidence issues and mental health problems, it is clear that the unattainable beauty standards that society favors can have catastrophic and far-reaching consequences.
The extreme weight-loss regime that Presley may have maintained shows the immense pressure on women in Hollywood to fit an unattainable beauty standard.
Presley’s death shows the inherent dangers of such a strict beauty standard, which could have led to her untimely death.
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Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers celebrity gossip, pop culture analysis and all things to do with the entertainment industry.