Riley Keough has made a name for herself outside of being Elvis Presley’s granddaughter. Her achievements as a self-made star are even more incredible when one considers how legendary Elvis was before and after his death. The 34-year-old is a model and actress but not a singer, as she was not blessed with the musical talent that runs in her family.
Riley lived an exciting but largely unstable life due to her late mom, Lisa Marie Presley’s frequent marriages. Riley’s parents, Lisa Marie and Danny Keough divorced just before she was 5, which heralded a turbulent childhood for her.
The “Mad Max: Fury Road” actress never finished high school, but she has said she would like to do so. She shared that while Danny was concerned about her education, Lisa Marie felt she needed to pursue the arts where her interests lay, which she did. Meanwhile, Riley’s childhood may have been unstable, but she considers it a wonderful time in her life.
The new mom of one experienced the best of two worlds with her parents. Gina Gammell, a close friend of the actress, told Vanity Fair of Riley’s life with Danny and Lisa Marie, “He’s someone who had no money, and she had this incredibly regular life with him — and then eras with her mom that were extraordinary. That’s why she’s so comfortable in any place.”
Riley and Lisa Marie were incredibly close when the latter was still alive. It was at Lisa Marie’s burial that Riley first disclosed to the public through her husband, Ben Smith-Petersen, that she had welcomed her first child. However, Riley’s daughter’s name was kept a secret for months until she shared the name with Vanity Fair in an interview published on Aug. 8, 2023.
Following Lisa Marie’s death on Jan. 12, 2023, Riley took responsibility for many things, including Graceland and her younger half-sisters, Finley and Harper Lockwood, whom her mom shared with musician Michael Lockwood.
Lisa Marie’s death wasn’t Riley’s first experience with grief. Her younger brother, Benjamin Keough, died in 2020. He was buried at Elvis’ estate, Graceland, where the Rock n’ Roll king and his family are also buried. Lisa Marie was also buried there following her funeral. For Riley, Graceland, which used to be a fun place when she was a kid, became associated with pain and loss.
Meanwhile, Graceland would also become a symbol of something else after Lisa Marie’s death. The “Daisy Jones & The Six” actress became embroiled in a legal battle with her grandmother, Priscilla Presley, for the estate, and the issue was only settled on Aug. 4, 2023, by a Los Angeles Superior Court. Riley would be the sole trustee and preside over the sub-trusts of her 14-year-old half-sisters.
On the other hand, Priscilla, 78, will remain a special adviser and receive monthly payments for her role within the trust and will be allowed to be buried next to Elvis, Lisa Marie and Benjamin if she chooses to.
Meanwhile, Riley bears no hard feelings toward Priscilla.
“We are a family, but there’s also a huge business side of our family,” she told Vanity Fair. “So I think that there was clarity that needed to be had.”
Of Priscilla, she said:
“She’s a beautiful woman, and she was a huge part of creating my grandfather’s legacy and Graceland. It’s very important to her. He was the love of her life. Anything that would suggest otherwise in the press makes me sad.”
Riley shared her baby’s name for the first time during the interview with Vanity Fair published on Aug. 8, 2023. “This is Tupelo,” she said as she showed the interviewer her baby, Tupelo Storm Smith-Peterson. Tupelo is the birthplace of Elvis in Mississippi.
“It’s funny because we picked her name before the Elvis movie,” Riley explained. “I was like, ‘This is great because it’s not really a well-known word or name in relation to my family — it’s not like Memphis or something. Then when the Elvis movie came out, it was like, Tupelo this and Tupelo that. I was like, ‘Oh, no.’ But it’s fine,” she assured.
Tupelo’s middle name is a tribute to her late uncle, Benjamin Storm Keough.
Riley also shared her thoughts about her baby’s resemblance to her husband.
“She’s literally like someone shrunk my husband, and that’s our baby,” the actress opined.
Riley and the Australian stuntman and actor, Smith-Petersen met in 2013 while making “Mad Max: Fury Road.”
“I remember it so vividly, I just knew that we were going to have kids,” the actress who delivered her baby through surrogacy because of her Lyme disease said. “It was, in hindsight, very strange. I didn’t know how we’d get there, but we did.”
She said of surrogacy:
“I think it’s a very cool, selfless, and incredible act that these women do to help other people. I can carry children, but it felt like the best choice for what I had going on physically with the autoimmune stuff.”
Of motherhood, Riley said: “This is the thing in my life so far that I have really wanted to, quote-unquote, get right. I don’t think you ever can be a perfect parent, but I would like to be the best mom for her that I can be.”
Did you know Riley Keough had welcomed a daughter? What do you think of her daughter’s name? Let us know — and be sure to pass this on to friends, family and fans of the Presley family.
