Riley Keough, queen of effortless cool and heir to one heck of a rock ‘n’ roll family tree, recently hit The Drew Barrymore Show and got real about losing her mom, Lisa Marie Presley. And look, when you’re processing emotions on Drew’s couch, it’s basically the celebrity version of group therapy—only with better lighting and more tissues.
So here’s the scoop: Riley, now 35 but still looking like she could front an indie band with zero effort, talked about wrapping up her mom’s unfinished book, From Here to the Great Unknown. Yep, because when you’re part of the Presley dynasty, even your grieving process comes with editing deadlines. Who knew the afterlife had homework?
“I knew she was gone,” Riley told Drew, with the kind of calm intuition that makes everyone else wonder if they should invest in some crystals. She compared it to how Lisa Marie felt when her dad, Elvis Presley, decided to moonwalk his way off this mortal coil back in the day. (Spoiler alert: if you’re a Presley, apparently you just know when someone’s off to rock the heavens.)
Riley explained that although her mom had been through health scares before, this time hit different. “There had been incidents before, and I didn’t have the same feeling,” she admitted. “This time, it was like a cosmic white flag—surrender mode activated.” Imagine knowing the vibe shift between oops-I’m-sick and yep-this-is-the-big-one. The Presley family intuition is clearly on another level.
A couple of weeks ago, Riley also opened up about the cause of her mom’s passing. Turns out, it was related to complications from a surgery. Which just feels wildly unfair, because if anyone deserved a free pass through life’s hardships, it’s someone whose family tree includes Elvis himself. But no—life keeps handing out plot twists like it’s a soap opera.
Riley Keough, showing us how to gracefully carry both a legacy and a truckload of grief—and still find time to finish a book for her late mom. Honestly, how does she do it? Therapy? Pilates? A secret Presley handbook on emotional resilience? Someone ask Drew to invite her back so we can all take notes.
