Riley Keough is the sole heir to Graceland, Elvis Presley’s historic home, which he shared with his ex-wife Priscilla and their daughter Lisa Marie. After the deaths of his mother and his brother, Keough opens up about his family, specifically, the Presley family curse.
Keough is currently promoting her mother’s memoir, “From Here to the Great Unknown,” which she completed and co-wrote. In a chat with author Taylor Jenkins Reed, Keough addressed her family and the “curse” that many outlets and pop culture have assigned to them.
“I’ve been asked a lot on this book tour, ‘How can I avoid the curse of Presley?’ And that’s such a weird question,” Keough said.
“I think the word ‘curse’ is used because my family doesn’t see it as a real myth or anything, but it’s a very common thing like addiction.”
“Everyone here has loved someone with an addiction problem or has tragically lost someone,” he said. “I mean, the hope is that future generations of our family won’t struggle so much with addiction. Of course, that’s the dream.”
The curse appears to refer to Presley and Lisa Marie’s addiction problems and the death of Riley’s brother Benjamin Keefe.
Keough always knew he would be involved in directing Graceland
Although Keough has received a lot of media attention regarding Graceland since her mother’s death, the estate is something she has been involved with since her 20s.
“There was a lot of attention on it and me, but before that, it was something I was very involved with,” Keough said.
“And my mom was very … if there were things with the estate, whatever we were, I was already involved in it. So it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, what’s this new thing?’ My mother used to bring me everything.