Riley Keough is Elvis Presley’s granddaughter
Although she never met her grandfather, Keough recently said in an interview with Variety that it was an “emotional experience” for her to watch Austin Butler play him in Elvis.
“I started crying five minutes in and didn’t stop,” she said. “There’s a lot of family trauma and generational trauma that started around then for our family. I felt honoured they worked so hard to really get his essence, to feel his essence. Austin captured that so beautifully.”
She also said that though she trusted director Baz Luhrmann with the vision for the film, “You’re protective over your family.”
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She plays a musician in Daisy Jones & the Six but hadn’t tried singing before accepting the role
Keough was born into musical royalty – Elvis has 18 No 1 hit songs and her mother Lisa Marie released three albums in her lifetime. Keough’s father Danny met her mum while playing in her band.
But though she plays captivating pop star Daisy Jones in Daisy Jones & The Six, Keough admitted she wasn’t much of a singer before taking the part.
According to People, while reflecting on the audition process at a screening of the Amazon Prime video series, she said she “blacked out” during one meeting. “And then I auditioned like everybody else, and lied to them and told them l could sing,” she added.
Keough also said she hadn’t read the Taylor Jenkins Reid book that the series is based on before learning about the part.
She’s a new mother
Keough appears to be a very private person, so you may not know that the 33-year-old has actually been married to stuntman Ben Smith-Petersen since 2015. Smith-Peterson helped Keough tell the world they had a daughter via an eulogy she wrote about her late mother Lisa Marie at a memorial for her in 2023.
“Thank you for showing me love is the only thing that matters in this life,” Smith-Petersen said, reading Keough’s words to her late mother at the service held in Memphis, Tennessee. “I hope I can love my daughter the way you loved me, the way you loved my brother and my sisters.”
She once starred in a Justin Timberlake video
Keough may not have been a singer before Daisy Jones, but she was a music video star. She appeared in Justin Timberlake’s 2013 video for “TKO”, playing his vengeful love interest. In 2005, she also appeared in her mum’s music video for the song “Idiot”.
One of her tattoos is a tribute to her late brother, Benjamin Keough
Keough’s brother Benjamin Keough died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2020. That year, she got a tattoo of his first and middle names written in cursive on her collarbone to memorialise him, Entertainment Tonight reported.Months before her own death, their mother Lisa Marie remembered Benjamin and reflected on her grief in an essay for People. She called Benjamin the “sweetest and most incredible being that I have ever had the privilege of knowing”.
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She has two teenage siblings
During her fourth marriage to musician Michael Lockwood, Presley welcomed fraternal twin girls, Harper Vivienne Ann Lockwood and Finley Aaron Love Lockwood. They were born in October 2008, making them now 14 years old.
Their middle names were inspired by members of Lisa Marie’s family, including her father Elvis, whose own middle name was Aaron, and her mother Priscilla, whose middle name is Ann. Love was also the middle name of Lisa Marie’s grandmother, Gladys Presley.
Following Lisa Marie’s death in January 2023, the twins – along with Keough – have been named the heirs to grandfather Elvis’s Graceland estate. However, Priscilla and Keough had since been involved in legal proceedings contesting that status.Her first name isn’t actually Riley
Her full name is Danielle Riley Keough and for many years she was often called Danielle in the press, per People. However, it seems that when she began her acting career, starring as Marie Currie in the 2010 music biopic The Runaways, she chose Riley as her stage name.
Her first baby photos reportedly fetched US$300,000 from People magazine
Keough was first introduced to the world as a newborn on the cover of People magazine in 1989. A 21-year-old Lisa Marie is seen cradling her daughter as the publication welcomed to the world Elvis’ first grandchild. The publication reportedly paid out US$300,000 for the exclusive first images of Keough taken by photographer Cesare Bonazza. He snapped them in a 10-minute session the day after Lisa Marie gave birth, according to The LA Times.
The photo is reminiscent of Lisa Marie’s own famous baby photos which were taken four days after she was born and featured her parents Elvis and Priscilla posing with Lisa Marie swaddled in a blanket.
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She appeared in Magic Mike and was romantically involved with a co-star
After The Runaways, Keough starred in the likes of the thriller The Good Doctor and queer horror film Jack & Diane before landing a minor role in Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike in 2012.
She played Nora, a female stripper romantically involved with football star-turned-stripper Adam (Alex Pettyfer). Off-screen, Keough and the British actor grew close and the two went public with their romance in October 2011 shortly after the film wrapped.
Just six months later in March 2012, Keough was seen sporting a ring on her finger, sparking rumours that they had become engaged, although neither party ever confirmed this. They never made it down the aisle, however, and in 2013 they went their separate ways.
“She was the first woman in my life that I fell in love with at first sight,” Pettyfer said, reflecting on his relationship with Keough in 2018 while appearing on the SiriusXM show Radio Andy.
Keough has her own production company and has also directed in the past
Keough founded the production company Felix Culpa – which comes from the Latin phrase that is often translated to mean “happy fault” – in 2017 with her long-time friend and producing partner Gina Gammell.
The pair co-directed their debut feature film through the production company last year. War Pony, which premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, is a coming-of-age story about two young Oglala Lakota men from the Pine Ridge Reservation. The film received a positive response from critics, taking home the coveted Camera d’Or award at Cannes and receiving an honourable mention at the 2022 Munich Film Festival.
According to the Felix Culpa site, the company has a slate of over 30 upcoming projects, including the sci-fi thriller Alpha Gang, starring Andrea Riseborough, Nicholas Hoult, Steven Yeun and Jon Hamm.
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She’s close friends with Kristen Stewart and Dakota Johnson
Given that she was born into a famous family, it’s no surprise that Keough has a number of A-list friends, including Dakota Johnson and Kristen Stewart.
Both attended Keough’s 2015 wedding and were given special duties during the intimate ceremony, which took place in Napa Valley, California. The Spencer star was tasked with a poem during the service, according to Hello! magazine, while Johnson served as one of Keough’s bridesmaids.
Other stars in attendance included John Travolta, Keough’s Mad Max: Fury Road co-stars Zoë Kravitz, Abbey Lee and Cara Delevingne.
This article originally appeared on Insider.If you are having suicidal thoughts, or you know someone who is, help is available. For Hong Kong, dial +852 2896 0000 for The Samaritans or +852 2382 0000 for Suicide Prevention Services. In the US, call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on +1 988. For a list of other nations’ helplines, see this page.ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tK%2FMqWWcp51kuqKzwLOgp52jZMC1xcueZp6mpJq%2Fta3Ip6SepqRkrrPAyJyjnmdjZ353hJdsZqadlal6s7XLnrBmo5Wkwqi0jJ6jr6GjYr2zsdKlnLKrXamurbHNrZydZZenrq%2Bww5qsoKCkmr9usMCiqrJlmqS7pr%2BMrKCxZZGYwbOx0qxksJmjYrWmvoylmK2dXaLCrr8%3D