The 'Daisy Jones & The Six' actress is featured on the latest cover of 'Vanity Fair.'
Riley Keough is opening up about the state of her relationship with her grandmother, Priscilla Presley.
The Daisy Jones & The Six star covers Vanity Fair's latest issue, where she discusses the birth of her daughter, Tupelo -- who arrived via surrogate in August 2022 -- and the loss of her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, in January. In the wake of Lisa Marie's untimely death, the actress says her family went into a state of "chaos."
Lisa Marie died on Jan. 12, 2023. She was 54.
"When my mom passed, there was a lot of chaos in every aspect of our lives. Everything felt like the carpet had been ripped out and the floor had melted from under us," Keough says. "Everyone was in a bit of a panic to understand how we move forward, and it just took a minute to understand the details of the situation, because it’s complicated. We are a family, but there’s also a huge business side of our family. So I think that there was clarity that needed to be had."
A legal dispute ensued, when Priscilla decided to contest "the authenticity and validity" of Riley's appointment as sole trustee following the death of her brother, Benjamin Keough, claiming that "there are many issues surrounding" it. Riley went on to win a bittersweet legal victory just last week, when she was officially named as the sole trustee of the estate of her late mother.
"Clarity has been had," Riley tells Vanity Fair.
"Things with Grandma will be happy," she adds. "They’ve never not been happy."
Riley continues, "There was a bit of upheaval, but now everything’s going to be how it was. 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 because, at the end of the day, all she wants is to love and protect Graceland and the Presley family and the legacy. That’s her whole life. So it’s a big responsibility she has tried to take on. None of that stuff has really ever been a part of our relationship prior. She’s just been my grandma."
A judge signed off on Riley's June petition to approve the settlement agreement reached between her, her grandmother, Priscilla, and Michael Lockwood, Lisa Marie's ex and the Guardian Ad Litem for Riley's two younger siblings. The settlement terms, obtained by ET back in June, will see Riley serve as the sole trustee of her mother's estate and the sub-trusts for her sisters, 14-year-old twins Harper and Finley Lockwood.
For her part, Priscilla has shut down any speculation of a rift between the family members.
Riley will own Graceland -- the home of Elvis Presley, which he gave to his daughter, Lisa Marie, when he died -- in Memphis, Tennessee. The legal docs stated that she would, "to the extent of her authority," allow Priscilla to be buried on the property at Graceland's Meditation Garden upon her death. The docs also noted that Priscilla's burial location "will be at the location closest to Elvis Presley without moving any existing gravesite."
Priscilla's future gravesite had reportedly been a point of contention in the negotiations, with TMZ reporting in May that she had requested to be buried next to her late ex-husband. However, Elvis is already buried between his grandmother, Minnie Mae, and his father, Vernon Presley. Elvis' mother, Gladys Presley, Lisa Marie and her son, Benjamin, who died in 2020, are also buried at the Meditation Garden.
"I don’t know why she wouldn’t be buried at Graceland," Riley says in her new interview. "I don’t understand what the drama in the news was about. Yeah. If she wants to be, of course. Sharing Graceland with the world was her idea from the start."
After a pause, Riley adds, "I always had positive and beautiful memories and association with Graceland. Now, a lot of my family’s buried there, so it’s a place of great sadness at this point in my life."
The 34-year-old star looks back on the loss of her younger brother, sharing that she moved in with her mother for six months after his death.
"After that, I would still sleep at her house like two or three times a week. She wanted us there. If it was up to her, I would have lived there full-time," she says.
"When I lost my brother, there was no road map whatsoever, and it was a lot of big emotions that I didn’t know what to do with," she reveals of her grief. "When I lost my mom, I was familiar with the process a little bit more, and I found working to be really helpful. I find it triggering when people say happiness is a choice, but in that moment, I did feel like there was a choice in front of me to give up and let this event take me out or have the courage to work through it. I started trying to move through it and not let it take me out."
Riley says that the last time she saw Lisa Marie was at a post-Golden Globes party for the Elvis film.
"We had dinner," she shares. "That was the last time I saw her. I remember thinking about how beautiful she looked, and that was my strongest memory of the dinner."
Calling her mother "one of a kind" and "the best mom," Riley emotionally looks back on how she's coped with her recent string of family tragedies.
"I have been through a great deal of pain and I’ve had my.… Parts of me have died and I’ve felt like my heart has exploded, but I also feel.… I’m trying to think of how to phrase this," she says. "I have strengthened the qualities that have come about through adversity."
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