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Riley Keough addresses 'family curse' after tragic death of mom and brother: 'It's a very weird...'

Riley Keough opens up about the Presley family curse in a candid interview while on tour for her book, 'From Here to the Great Unknown'

Riley Keough, the granddaughter of the legendary Elvis Presley, has not shied away from addressing the comments made about her "family curse." Per People, the word "curse" stuck with Keough after the loss of her brother, Benjamin Keough, in 2020 and the recent death of her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, in 2023. The deaths led many to believe that the Presley family is under some kind of curse. However, in a candid interview during her book tour, 'From Here to the Great Unknown,' Keough addressed the uncomfortable inquiry head-on.

Per the aforementioned outlet, Keough told fellow author and moderator Taylor Jenkins Reid, “I get asked a lot on this book tour, ‘How did I avoid the curse of the Presleys?’ And it's such a weird question,” Keough admitted. She further explained, “I think the word ‘curse’ is used because my family is looked at as this not real mythology or something, but really it's just very common things, like addiction.” “Everyone in here has loved somebody with addiction issues or has lost somebody tragically,” she continued. “I mean, the hope is that the future generations of our family aren't going to struggle so much with addiction. Of course, that's the dream.”

Speaking of how she dealt with the grief, she told Vanity Fair, "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. I have strengthened the qualities that have come about through adversity.” Remembering her mom, she also added, "The life she had was not easy, and the treachery she endured and the lack of real love and real friends.… She definitely had some great friends and relationships in her life, but I don’t think she ever had.… People were just coming for her since she was born—wanting something from her and not being totally authentic." 

'The Devil All The Time' actress further added, "She had to develop a very thick skin. She was a very powerful presence and extremely loving and extremely loyal and sort of a lioness—a fierce woman and a really wonderful mother. I think that would be my summary because I’m her daughter. She was the best mom." She also mentioned what helped her deal with her mother's loss: "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 says. “When I lost my mom, I was familiar with the process a little bit more, and I found working to be really helpful."

Per Yahoo, Keough is now the sole heir of her grandfather's iconic home, Graceland. He had previously gifted it to Lisa Marie, his only child, when he died in 1977. When Jenkins Reid asked what it’s like to step into this new role, Keough jokingly replied, "'It's funny because I spent a lot of my life and career actually living in a world where that wasn't at the forefront,” she said, adding that “it was very different” after Lisa Marie’s death. She further added, "There was a lot of attention on it and me, but prior to that, it was something I was very involved in,” she continued. “And my mom was very … if there were things with the estate, whatever we were, I was very involved in it already. So it wasn't like, ‘Whoa, what is this new thing?’ My mom would come to me with everything.”