Riley Keough has finally spoken out about her bitter feud with grandma Priscilla Presley over her late mother Lisa Marie’s multi-million dollar estate.
Earlier this month, the 34-year-old actress and model was named sole trustee of her late mother’s estate — including Graceland property — after she reportedly agreed to pay her grandmother $1 million, as well as $400,000 in legal cost.
Now Riley has spoken about the legal battle with Priscilla in an interview with Priscilla Vanity Fairwho admitted to the publication that her family was thrown into “chaos” in the wake of her mother’s death, and that they were left “panicked” about how to handle their grief alongside the future of the Presley “business.”
“When my mother passed away, there was a lot of chaos in every aspect of our lives,” shared the mother-of-one – who welcomed a daughter in 2022 with husband Ben Smith-Petersen via surrogate.
Riley Keough has finally spoken out about her bitter feud with grandma Priscilla Presley over her late mother Lisa Marie’s estate
“When my mother passed away, there was a lot of chaos in every aspect of our lives,” the mother of one – who welcomed a daughter in 2022 via surrogate – shared
Riley (seen with Priscilla, Lisa Marie, and Lisa Marie’s twin daughters Harper and Finley) became embroiled in a legal battle over her late mother’s estate following her death in January
“Everything felt like the carpet had been ripped out and the floor had melted from under us.
“Everyone was a bit panicked to understand how we’re going to proceed, and it only took a minute to understand the details of the situation because it’s complicated. We are a family, but there is also a huge business side to our family.’
She added that the situation between her and Priscilla was made all the more complicated by the fact that they had never before dealt with the “business” side of their family legacy, noting that their relationship had never progressed beyond that of a grandmother and granddaughter.
After her mother’s death in January this year, reports quickly spread of an acrimonious split between Priscilla and Riley, who became embroiled in a legal battle over an amendment to Lisa Marie’s 2016 will that removed Priscilla as trustee of the estate. estate.
Lawyers for Priscilla said she was not aware of the change until after her daughter’s death.
The amendment removed Priscilla and Lisa Marie’s former business manager Barry Siegel, replacing them with Lisa Marie’s children Riley and Benjamin Keough.
Benjamin died in 2020 after shooting himself at the family mansion, according to sources who revealed he was going through a rough time at the time.
However, that dispute has now been resolved after Riley agreed to pay her grandmother $1.4 million — including $400,000 in legal fees — in exchange for her appointment as the sole administrator of her mother’s estate, meaning she the subordinate will also preside. trusts for her half-sisters Harper and Finley Lockwood, daughters of Lisa Marie’s fourth husband Michael Lockwood.
The Daisy Jones and the Six star went on to praise her grandmother — who was married to rock and roll legend Elvis Presley for seven years — as a “beautiful woman.”
Riley also paid tribute to Priscilla for all she has done to “love and protect Graceland (seen) and the Presley family and legacy”
“Things with Grandma will be happy… They’ve never been unlucky,” she said. “There was some unrest, but now everything is back to the way it was”
For her role, Priscilla will be a special advisor to the trusts and receive a monthly payment for her role.
Priscilla may also be buried in Graceland, Elvis Presley’s home in Memphis, which Riley will now own.
Riley says she and her grandmother have now found a shared ‘clarity’ about how best to move forward, which has set them on the path to mending their broken relationship, though she insists there is never any ‘unhappiness’ between them been.
“Things with Grandma will be happy… They’ve never been unlucky,” she said. “There was some unrest, but now everything is back to the way it was.”
She then went on to praise her grandmother — who was married to rock and roll legend Elvis Presley for seven years — as a “beautiful woman,” highlighting the “enormous” role Priscilla played in “creating the legacy of my grandfather and Graceland’.
In the interview, Riley also revealed the name of her and her husband Benjamin Smith-Petersen’s daughter: Tupelo Storm Smith-Petersen.
“It’s very important to her. He was the love of her life,” Riley continued, pointing out that all her grandmother wants is to “love and protect Graceland, the Presley family, and the legacy.”
One of the newest members of that dynasty is Riley’s daughter, whose name the actress first revealed in her Vanity Fair interview: Tupelo Storm Smith-Petersen.
Elvis fans will instantly recognize the significance of her daughter’s first name as the music legend’s birthplace — though Riley says she picked the nickname before the recent biopic about her grandfather was released, propelling the city of Mississippi to major fame.
“I was like, ‘This is great because it’s not really a familiar word or name in relation to my family — it’s not like Memphis or anything,'” she explained. “When the Elvis movie came out, it was like Tupelo this and Tupelo that.
“I was like, ‘Oh, no.’ But it’s fine.’
Tupelo’s middle name, Storm, is a tribute to Riley’s late brother Benjamin Storm Keough.
Riley, who has been keeping a close eye on the details of her daughter’s birth, also talked about her decision to welcome a child through a surrogate mother, explaining that while she “can carry children,” she felt it was “the best thing” for her was not to. due to her ongoing autoimmune issues brought on by her diagnosis of Lyme disease.
At the time of the interview, Riley had just returned from Switzerland, where she was undergoing treatment for her condition for 15 days. She told the publication it was the first thing she’d tried that helped her symptoms.
According to the actress, the holistic treatment center where she stayed focuses on methods that “you can’t really do in America yet, like cleansing your blood.”