Elvis Presley’s granddaughter Riley Keough addresses ‘family curse’ after tragic death of mom and brother

Riley Keough has weighed in on whether there is a ‘curse’ on her famous family.

The 35-year-old actress said on Tuesday that she does not think so.

She is the granddaughter of the late rock ‘n’ roll legend Elvis Presley – who died in 1977 at the age of 42 – and after her mother Lisa Marie Presley passed away in January 2023 at the age of 54. Her brother Benjamin died in 2020 at the age of 27.

Speaking live on stage at the Jerry Moss Theater in Los Angeles, during the final stop of her book tour, she said: “I think the word ‘curse’ is used because my family is looked at like this, no real mythology or something like that, but really it’s just very normal things, like addiction.

“Everyone here has loved someone with addiction issues or lost someone tragically.”

Riley has insisted that her “dream” for the future is that there will be no “addiction struggles” within the family.

She is the granddaughter of the late rock ‘n’ roll legend Elvis Presley – who died in 1977 at the age of 42 – and after her mother Lisa Marie Presley passed away in January 2023 at the age of 54. Her brother Benjamin died in 2020; seen with mother in 2017

“I mean, the hope is that future generations of our family won’t struggle with addiction as much. That’s the dream, of course.’

Lisa Marie – who was married to Danny Keough from 1988 to 1995 – died after suffering sudden cardiac arrest.

In 2020, her son Benjamin took his own life at the age of 27.

The Daisy Jones and the Six star is now the sole heir to the Graceland estate left by her grandfather after an intense legal battle with her grandmother Priscilla Presley, noting that she was “very involved” in the proceedings before her mother passed away, and that it was only the ‘attention’ that was new to her.

She said: ‘There was a lot of focus on me and on me, but before that I was very involved.

“And my mother was very… if there were things with the estate, which we were, I was already very involved.

“So it wasn’t like, ‘Wow, what is this new thing?’ My mother came to me with everything.

“So there was that awareness and it was something I was familiar with. That wasn’t really anything new, I would say, but I would say that the attention to it was new.’

Elvis seen at home in a photo shared by Riley on Oprah

Elvis seen in an image Riley provided for Oprah’s CBS special

Speaking live on stage at the Jerry Moss Theater in Los Angeles, during the final stop of her book tour, she said: “I think the word ‘curse’ is used because my family is looked at like this, no real mythology or something like that, but really it’s just very common things, like addiction,” Riley said; seen with Lisa Marie in 2022

This comes after Riley believes Lisa Marie Presley reached ‘the end’ of her life when her son Benjamin died.

The late singer – daughter of superstar Elvis Presley – was left distraught when Benjamin Keough committed suicide in 2020 at the age of 27.

Riley believes the loss of her younger brother had a devastating impact on her mother, who died less than three years later in January 2023 at the age of 54.

During a TV special With Oprah Winfrey, Riley explained that she worried about her mother after Benjamin, telling the media mogul, “The moment my brother died, I thought, ‘This is the end of her,’ because they were so close.”

“They were as close as Elvis was to his mother, and I couldn’t imagine a world where she would survive without him.”

Riley believes Lisa Marie reached “the end” of her life when her son Benjamin died in 2020

Riley further admitted that her fear for her mother grew during the last few weeks of her life, adding, “The last three weeks that she was alive, there were a few times when I was with her that I was worried.

“I think there was always an undercurrent of feeling like I was on borrowed time with her.

“But there were a few interactions with her where she felt distant in a way, a kind of resignation.”

Oprah asked the actress if she was concerned that Lisa Marie was using drugs again after previously battling an opioid addiction, and Riley responded, “It didn’t feel like drugs.” I have a lot of experience with the medicines. It felt like a tired person.”

Lisa Marie was buried in the meditation garden at the family’s Graceland estate in Memphis, Tennessee, along with her father Elvis and son Benjamin. Riley explained that she finds it difficult to visit the property where the Oprah interview took place.

She said, “Normally I don’t feel like coming here, and I have to kind of force myself to come. And when I’m here, I really feel a sense of connection when I sit in the meditation garden.’

It comes after it was revealed that Lisa Marie kept her late son’s body in her home for two months using dry ice in a separate casitas room on the grounds of her Los Angeles home.

Riley believes the loss of her younger brother had a devastating impact on her mother, who died less than three years later in January 2023 at the age of 54.

Also in the book, Riley said that Ben looked a lot like Elvis

In her posthumous memoir From Here to the Great Unknown, obtained by DailyMail.com, she wrote: “There is no law in the state of California that requires you to bury someone immediately.”

Riley – who finished the book after her mother’s death – wrote that it was “very important” for Lisa Marie to have “plenty of time to say goodbye to him, just as she had done with her father.”

Lisa went on to explain that she just wanted to continue caring for her son even after he passed away. She wrote, “That was one of the reasons it took so long. I got so used to taking care of him and keeping him there. I think it would scare anyone to have their son there like that.

‘But not me. I felt so lucky that there was a way I could still raise him, and put it off a little longer so I could be okay with letting him rest.”