Elvis Presley was the King of Rock 'n' Roll, his wife, Priscilla, whom he married in 1967, was the queen of the realm, and their only child, the late Lisa Marie Presley, had the role of pampered princess. There's another person in the storied Presley monarchy who's generating national headlines and hype - Danielle Riley Keough, known as Riley, Lisa Marie's oldest child. She'll turn 35 on May 29.
Director Baz Luhrmann, who became acquainted with Riley during filming of the biopic Elvis, observed about her per Vanity Fair, "To be American royalty is to have the whole world watch you."
Riley Keough Is A Heir To Elvis' Legacy
A Large Social Media
People sure do keep their eyes on Riley Keough. She has 1.3 million followers on Instagram, which is just one indication that plenty of folks are riveted by this auburn-haired dynamo. She is strutting out from granddad Elvis's long shadow as a successful actress, director, model, singer, producer, and devoted guardian of the Presley legacy and empire.
She's Protecting Her Grandfather's Legacy
Riley recently engaged in a courtroom showdown with a company that tried to foreclose on Graceland, Elvis's legendary Memphis mansion. She reportedly thought that their claim was bogus, and a judge agreed.
She's The Sole Trustee To Graceland
It's not the first time that Riley has publicly butted heads with someone over the estate of a deceased family member. After Lisa Marie unexpectedly died in 2023, Riley and her grandmother, Priscilla, allegedly tussled about who would be the sole trustee of Lisa Marie's estate, which included Graceland, per Entertainment Tonight.
Riley was victorious.
Riley Has A Large Networth
According to Celebrity Net Worth, as a result, her net worth soared to a not-so-paltry $20 million.
Her Dad Is A Musician Himself
She reportedly has mainly good memories of her hectic youth. Riley's dad is musician Danny Keough, Lisa Marie's first husband, whom she married in 1988. When the two divorced in 1994, Riley shuttled between being with her father in Hawaii and Los Angeles, with her mom in L.A., and being at Graceland. Riley got her education through homeschooling.
Her Stepdad Was Briefly Michael Jackson
She traveled between her parents' vastly differing worlds - Keough's spartan one and Lisa Marie's that was more comfortable. It must have been a peripatetic and possibly confusing existence for a kid, yet Riley managed to stay remarkably grounded. When Lisa Marie briefly married Michael Jackson, Riley got a taste of life at his ranch, Neverland. She speaks of him with fondness: "I think he really got a kick out of being able to make people happy, in the most epic way possible, which I think he and my grandfather had in common."
(Lisa Marie married two more times - to actor Nicolas Cage and guitarist Michael Lockwood, with whom she shared twin daughters, Harper and Finley.)
Riley Keough Became A Model
Riley stepped into the spotlight as a model for big-name designers such as Dolce & Gabbana when she was in her teens, according to IMDb. She also cultivated a loyal group of famous gal pals like Kristen Stewart, Dakota Johnson, and Zoe Kravitz, who affectionately said of her buddy, "She's definitely got this crazy little demon inside of her that likes to just...I mean, give her a couple tequilas, and she is rowdy!"
Riley now downplays her adolescent wild-child phase. In fact, she's focusing on her burgeoning acting career. Riley's dramatic talent has already been recognized with 14 award wins and 31 nominations from organizations like the Cannes Film Festival. the Chicago Film Critics Association, the Primetime Emmy Awards, and the Golden Globes.
She's Also A Pretty Big Actor
Riley honed her acting chops beginning in 2010 with a role in The Runaways alongside Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning. A slew of roles quickly followed in films such as Magic Mike (2012), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), a TV series titled The Girlfriend Experience (2016), and another TV series called Daisy Jones & The Six (2023).
Riley Keough Is A Wife And A Mother
In 2015, Riley married an Australian stuntman named Ben Smith-Petersen. They first crossed paths during the filming of Mad Max: Fury Road. From the essay she wrote about him and their courtship for Vogue Australia in 2022, it sounds as if Riley was smitten from the start.
"We were so young, he was 22 and I was 24," she wrote, "just getting coffee and smoking cigarettes, without a care in the world. I remember as he walked out of the gas station, I so strongly had this feeling, and it was, 'That's the father of your children.' It was so crazy because we had only really hung out for a week."
They added to their family in 2022, when Tupelo Storm Smith-Petersen was born via surrogate. (Tupelo is where Elvis was born. Riley's younger brother, Benjamin, who took his own life in 2020, had the middle name Storm.)
She's Working On A Memoir
The death of Lisa Marie at 54 from cardiac arrest after a bowel blockage was a shattering tragedy for Riley. She reportedly also has plans to honor her mother by completing her memoir, which is slated for release in October 2024.
Riley stoically hasn't let her mother's and brother's untimely deaths derail or define her. "I have been through a great deal of pain and I've had my.... Parts of me have died and I've felt like my heart has exploded, but I also feel.... I'm trying to think of how to phrase this.... I have strengthened the qualities that have come about through adversity."
