Riley Keough Reflects on the Presley Family 'Curse' and What It's Like to Now Be the Sole Heir of Graceland

Mar. 15, 2025

Riley Keough in Los Angeles in April 2024.Photo:Jerod Harris/Getty Images

Jerod Harris/Getty Images

There is no Presley family curse, according toRiley Keough— just a series of tragic but “common” events examined under a harsh spotlight.

At the Los Angeles stop of her book tour forFrom Here to the Great Unknown— her late momLisa Marie Presley’s memoir, which Keoughfinished after her sudden deathlast year — the actress, 35, addressed the so-called “curse,” a title assigned to the perceived misfortune that has plagued the famous family.

“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,” the granddaughter ofElvis Presleytold moderator and fellow authorTaylor Jenkins Reidat the Nov. 18 event.

Riley Keough speaks about mom Lisa Marie Presley’s memoir ‘From Here To The Great Unknown’ in Nashville in October.Jason Kempin/Getty

Jason Kempin/Getty

It’s “weird,” theDaisy Jones & The Sixstar explained, because “I think the word ‘curse’ is used because my family are 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.”

Lisa Marie Presley, Priscilla Presley and Riley Keough in 2022.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

After Jenkins Reid asked what it’s like to step into this new role, Keough joked that it’s “fun” before revealing that it’s not as daunting as it seems, because she was actually already “very involved” in the affairs of the iconic residence.

‘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.

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“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.”

Elvis Presley at Graceland.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Her involvement, Keough clarified, began when she was in her 20s, noting that Lisa Marie often sought her help and “opinions on things.”

And, after Jenkins Reid pointed out that there was “probably always an understanding” that Graceland would be hers to manage “one day,” theUnder the Bridgeactress said, “Or all of ours.”

“So there was that awareness and it was something that I was familiar with,” she explained. “That wasn’t a new thing basically, I would say — but I’d say the attention on it was new.”

source: people.com