Riley Keough Makes Vulnerable Confession About Her Relationship With Late Grandfather Elvis Presley

Though she never had an opportunity to meet him, Riley Keough said she still feels close to her late grandfather, Elvis Presley, thanks largely to her mother, the late Lisa Marie Presley.

Keough, 35, opened up about her relationship to the King of Rock ’n’ Roll, who died in 1977, and his only daughter during a recent appearance on Today with Hoda & Jenna. The actress stopped by the show to promote From Here to the Great Unknown, the memoir Lisa began writing before her death in January 2023 that Keough completed on her mother’s behalf. The book was released on Tuesday, Oct. 8.

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“It doesn’t feel distant at all,” the Daisy Jones & the Six star said when Today’s Hoda Kotb asked if she feels a sense of connection to the “Jailhouse Rock” singer. The relationship she and her siblings have with Elvis was “through” their mother, Keough added.

“We could feel her love and her grief and her closeness to him,” Keough said. “It’s emotional to see him, to hear his voice.”

The Mad Max: Fury Road actress also spoke of the “emotional journey” she went on when she decided to review the audio tapes her mother left behind and complete Lisa’s memoir. As fans of the Presley family read the book, Keough said she hopes they can “connect to [Lisa] on a human level.”

“A lot of the things that she goes through in the book are very normal issues, and I think the circumstance is extraordinary, in that she’s Elvis’ daughter, and our family is what it is,” Keough explained. “But it’s addiction, and it’s mother and daughter relationships, and it’s falling in love and getting married, and having kids and grief. The themes are very human.”

Lisa had “wanted to share her story,” Keough said, “with the hope that people would connect and not feel as alone.”

Next: Riley Keough Shares Haunting Truth About the Day Grandfather Elvis Presley Died