Riley Keough is opening up about a very emotional challenge — completing the memoir of her late mother Lisa Marie Presley.
“It’s just something I felt that I needed to do for her and help her complete that project,” Keough, 34, told Variety at the Emmy Awards on Monday, January 15. “It’s very bittersweet and I am happy to do that for her. I feel honored to be able to help.”
When the only daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley died in January 2023 at age 54, she had been working on her book for over three years. Now, one year later, her oldest child is finishing the memoir, and she’s happy to continue the Presley legacy.
“It’s extremely emotional and also very therapeutic,” Keough continued. “It makes me feel very close to her. So it’s kind of, again, bittersweet and difficult, but also really special.”
The much-anticipated memoir is due to be published October 15. Lisa Marie previously asked her daughter to assist her with the book. After her mother died, Keough began listening to tapes Lisa Marie recorded.
“Few people had the opportunity to know who my mom really was, other than being Elvis’s daughter,” she said in a statement to the Associated Press on January 11. “I was lucky to have had that opportunity and working on preparing her autobiography for publication has been a privilege, albeit a bittersweet one. I’m so excited to share my mom now, at her most vulnerable and most honest, and in doing so, I do hope that readers come to love my mom as much as I did.”
Lisa Marie died after suffering a heart attack at her home in Calabasas, California. Her death was caused by a small bowel obstruction, according to an autopsy report obtained by Us Weekly in July 2023. She is survived by her mother, Priscilla, 78, Riley, whom she shared with ex-husband Danny Keough, and twin daughters Finley and Harper, 15, whom she welcomed with ex-husband Michael Lockwood.
Following Lisa Marie’s death, Riley became the sole trustee of her mother’s estate. Priscilla contested the will which gave her granddaughter control over the estate. Us confirmed the settlement included stipulations where Riley’s younger half-sisters were named sub-trustees and Priscilla was given a $1 million lump sum payment.
January 12 marked the one-year anniversary of Lisa Marie’s death. Riley remembered her mom by sharing a throwback Instagram photo of herself as a child sitting next to Lisa Marie. She captioned the photo. “❤️.”
Priscilla wrote via X (formerly Twitter), “Today is a very solemn day. It’s been a year since your passing and not a day goes by where I don’t think about and miss you. Rest in peace, Lisa. You are in the arms of your beloved father now. Only that … gives me comfort. Mom ♥️.”
