Riley Keough: Nepo babies, Addiction & Grief (FBF)
Riley Keough discusses her book 'From Here to the Great Unknown,' which she completed after her mother Lisa Marie Presley's death, exploring themes of grief, addiction, family dynamics, and growing up as Elvis's granddaughter. She reflects on her unconventional upbringing, her mother's relationships including Michael Jackson, processing family trauma, and her work as a certified death doula.
Summary
Riley Keough appears on Call Her Daddy to discuss her recently published memoir co-written with her late mother Lisa Marie Presley. She explains how her mother asked for help with her autobiography in December before passing away a month later, leaving Riley to complete the project over approximately a year despite initial resistance. Riley describes her unconventional childhood marked by extreme wealth, security, and privacy due to her famous family lineage as Elvis's granddaughter. She discusses growing up with her parents' amicable post-divorce relationship, where her father Danny lived in a guest house while her mother had subsequent relationships, including with Michael Jackson. Riley addresses how she was sheltered from knowledge of allegations against Jackson and explains that her family's approach was to shield children from adult conflicts. She reflects on how her mother's relationships affected her own attachment style, noting she struggled with commitment in her twenties but became certain about her husband when she decided to marry at 25. Riley details the emotional toll of watching her mother and brother struggle with addiction, explaining how she tried unsuccessfully to help them while learning to surrender to what she couldn't control. She discusses becoming a caretaker figure in her family dynamics and the isolating experience of being the sober family member. Riley shares her grief journey following her brother's death and her mother's passing, explaining how she sought support from people with similar experiences on Reddit and other forums rather than from friends without that context. She describes her decision to become a certified death doula after losing family members to addiction, wanting to help others experiencing similar grief. Riley addresses the aggressive media attention she received while promoting the book, realizing for the first time what her mother had endured throughout her life. She emphasizes the importance of feeling her emotions and being present with grief rather than suppressing it. The conversation touches on parenting philosophy, her desire to help her daughter find joy in simple things rather than excess, and the continuing cultural fascination with Elvis despite decades passing.
About this episode
Join Alex in the studio for an interview with Riley Keough. Riley reflects on her unconventional childhood as Elvis’ granddaughter, discusses her famous friendships with Dakota Johnson and Zoë Kravitz, and reveals the time she secretly got arrested. She also opens up about her complicated mother daughter dynamic and experiences with commitment issues, addicts, and grief.
Key Insights
- Riley felt resistant to completing her mother's memoir initially because writing about vulnerable family matters was outside her comfort zone, but she persisted because her mother's desire to share her story about grief and addiction was important to her.
- Riley's parents modeled an unusually amicable post-divorce relationship where her father lived in a guest house and remained involved in family life, teaching her to maintain friendships with ex-partners rather than cutting ties completely.
- Riley was deliberately shielded from knowledge of allegations against Michael Jackson and only learned about such controversies as an adult, suggesting her parents actively kept children uninformed about controversies surrounding her mother's relationships.
- Watching her mother and brother struggle with addiction taught Riley that 'tough love doesn't work' and that she had to surrender to the reality that she couldn't force them into recovery despite her efforts to help them.
- Riley became emotionally isolated during her brother's death and grief period, finding that friends without similar losses couldn't adequately support her, so she sought community from strangers on Reddit and Instagram who had experienced sibling death.
- Riley obtained death doula certification to make herself useful to others experiencing grief and loss, after realizing there were no resources available to her when her brother died.
- Riley experienced aggressive media questioning while promoting her book for the first time in her life, which made her empathize with her mother's lifelong experience of invasive press attention.
- Riley married at age 25 without extensive prior relationship experience or nervous hesitation because she intuitively knew her husband was the person she was meant to have children with, rather than basing the decision on traditional markers like relationship length.
Topics
Transcript
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