Riley Keough Reveals How She’s Raising Her Daughter To Have a ‘Normal’ Life—After Her Own Wild Childhood Growing Up at Neverland and Graceland

Actress Riley Keough, the granddaughter of Elvis Presley, has opened up about how she is raising her daughter to have a more normal lifestyle than the one she experienced growing up at iconic properties like Graceland and Neverland.

The 35-year-old is the daughter of Lisa Marie Presley and her first husband, Danny Keough. After her parents split in 1994, when Riley was just 5, Lisa Marie went on to wed Michael Jackson, who owned the iconic Neverland Ranch, a home that Riley spent several years living in.

To some, the idea of living in what was essentially an adult theme park, complete with its own circus and multiple attractions, might have seemed like a dream. But it’s a reality that Riley hopes her daughter, Tupelo, never experiences.

Speaking about her unique upbringing during an interview on Alex Cooper‘s podcast, “Call Her Daddy,” the actress explained that she is trying to ensure her 2-year-old, whom she shares with husband Ben Smith-Petersen, is able to enjoy the simpler things in life.

“I want [my kids] to be able to find joy playing in the backyard and doing normal kid stuff,” she said. “And not need elephants and a circus and all these things all of the time.”

Riley was quick to point out that she doesn’t resent her childhood—or her late mother—but noted that her unusual upbringing, both at her grandfather’s iconic Graceland compound in Memphis, TN, and at her stepfather’s Neverland estate, left her struggling to appreciate “the simple things.”

“She was such an amazing parent, and she wanted us to have, I think like her father did, these amazing experiences all the time,” Riley said of her mother, who died in 2023 at the age of 54. “For me personally, I think that the problem there could be for some that when you’re used to so much, it’s hard to find joy in simple things.”

Riley previously lifted the lid on her parenting style while speaking to People magazine, admitting that her family was often “smothering” her and had “no boundaries.”

“I always say it’s this Southern style of parenting, but it’s actually very specifically my family,” she said. “I think it is from the South, but whatever way she was parented was how I was parented in a sense. And I also now sort of parent that way. It’s really loving and tactile and smothering—no boundaries.”

In her “Call Her Daddy” interview, Riley was asked about the shocking sexual abuse allegations made against Jackson during his marriage to her mother.

“I was never told anything,” she said. “It’s actually not something I ever asked as an adult. I think it just was what it was. I don’t know, it just never came to mind.

“The one thing I know is that they were in love and that their love for one another was genuine. I was there and I remember. Everything else, I don’t know, because I wasn’t there for [it].”

Although Riley didn’t reveal where she wants her children to grow up, she sold her charming home in Los Angeles last summer for $1.7 million. Soon after, she inherited a special abode, becoming the sole owner of Graceland after her mother’s untimely passing.

Riley recently fought to save the legendary property from a foreclosure sale, taking her battle to court, where a judge blocked Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC from putting it on the market to settle debt on a $3.8 million loan.

After settling her legal woes, Riley opened the doors of Graceland to Oprah Winfrey for a candid interview in which she recalled many memories in the iconic estate and the special moments that took place between her mother and grandfather there.

Elvis died when he was only 42. Prior to his death, his daughter spent some of her early years at Graceland before her parents divorced and Lisa Marie moved with her mother to California.

The home is a Colonial Revival with stately columns built in 1939. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. Today, many people have the opportunity to tour the home but few have the chance to get such an intimate look inside.

For much of their interview, Riley and Winfrey were filmed in the living room—the very same space where Elvis’ coffin was placed, a moment that Lisa Marie recalls with raw emotion in her memoir, “From Here to the Great Unknown.”

The memoir described how Lisa Marie would “come into this room where his casket was, and sit alone, as a 9-year-old girl with her father’s body in the coffin.”

After Riley welcomed Winfrey into the gorgeous property, she revealed that her mother’s childhood might have played a role in some of her unusual parenting practices.

Riley revealed that her mom, who died of a small bowel obstruction, struggled to come to terms with her brother’s passing. She couldn’t decide whether to bury him in Hawaii or at Graceland, so she kept his body in their home.

“My house has a separate casitas bedroom and I kept Ben Ben in there for two months,” Lisa Marie wrote in her memoir, which was finished by her daughter and published almost two years after her death.

Jan. 12 marked the two-year anniversary of Lisa Marie’s death, and her mother, Priscilla Presley, took to social media over the weekend to pay tribute to her with a series of throwback snaps.

“I miss you more than words can say,” Priscilla wrote. “I wish I could hold you, talk to you, see your smile just one more time.

“I wish you could see how much you are still loved, how deeply you are missed by all of us who carry you in our hearts. —Mom.”

Lisa Marie’s 16-year-old twin daughters, Finley and Harper—whom she shared with Michael Lockwood—also expressed their own touching messages about their mom.

Alongside a snap of Lisa Marie with her newborn twins, Finley wrote, “Two years. I love you always.”

Meanwhile, Harper added: “I can’t believe it’s been 2 years. I miss you and love you so much mama.”