Lisa Marie Presley’s 4 Kids: Everything to Know about king Presley’s amazing grandchildren
LISA MARIE PRESLEY INSTAGRAM
Lisa Marie Presley was known by many for being Elvis Presley’s daughter, but she was also mom to four kids of her own: Riley Keough, Benjamin Keough, Finley Lockwood and Harper Lockwood. The singer, who died on Jan. 12 at the age of 54 after she was hospitalized for a possible cardiac arrest, described herself as “ferociously protective” of her kids.
“I just smother them in love,” she shared while speaking to Healthy Living in 2014. “They are my priority. That’s what I do. That’s what I care most about. I keep them close to me and make sure they are happy and healthy.”
Lisa Marie welcomed daughter Riley and son Benjamin with her ex-husband Danny Keough, whom she was married to from 1988 to 1994. In 2008, she welcomed twin daughters Finley and Harper with then-husband Michael Lockwood, though the two divorced in 2016.
Lisa Marie Presley, Daughter of Elvis and Priscilla, Dead at 54: ‘The Most Strong and Loving Woman’
In July 2020, Benjamin died by suicide and Lisa Marie was “beyond devastated” by the death of her son. She was open about her grief in the years after, posting tributes on Benjamin’s birthday and penning an emotional essay for PEOPLE in 2022 about the loss.
“It’s a real choice to keep going, one that I have to make every single day and one that is constantly challenging to say the least … But I keep going for my girls,” she wrote in honor of National Grief Awareness Day. “I keep going because my son made it very clear in his final moments that taking care of his little sisters and looking out for them were on the forefront of his concerns and his mind. He absolutely adored them and they him.”
Two days after attending the 2023 Golden Globes in early January, Lisa Marie collapsed at her home in Calabasas, California. She was transported to a local hospital after EMTs responded to the singer’s home and administered CPR. Shortly after, her mother, Priscilla Presley, confirmed the news of her daughter’s death in a statement to PEOPLE.
“It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us,” Priscilla said.
Lisa Marie was laid to rest at Graceland next to her son, Benjamin. Her memorial service took place on the front lawn of the iconic estate on Jan. 22, 2023. At the memorial, Priscilla delivered a eulogy, starting with a quote she said one of her granddaughters wrote.
“‘I have no idea how to put my mother into words. Truth is, there are too many. Lisa Marie Presley was an icon, a role model, a superhero to many people all over the world, but Mama was my icon, my role model, my superhero — in much more ways than one,’ ” Priscilla read. “‘Even now, I can’t get across everything there is to be understood or known about her, but as she always said, I’ll do my best.’ ”
Lisa Marie left her trust, which includes Elvis’ Graceland property and 15 percent ownership of Elvis’ estate, to her three daughters. But on Jan. 26, 2023, attorneys for Priscilla filed a petition questioning the “authenticity and validity” of Lisa Marie’s will, claiming that a 2016 amendment, which willed the trust to her three daughters, was invalid.
Two months later, in May 2023, Priscilla and Riley reached a settlement in the fight over Lisa Marie’s trust, with both sides reportedly “happy” with the outcome.
“My family has resolved all confusion as it relates to our plea to the court and request for document interpretation after my daughter Lisa Marie’s untimely passing,” Priscilla said in a statement to PEOPLE.
Riley is now the sole trustee of Lisa Marie’s estate. According to court documents, Riley was ordered to pay Priscilla a $1 million lump sum and an additional $400,000 for legal fees after receiving the proceeds from her mother’s life insurance policy.
In August, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge approved a settlement that allows Riley to preside over the sub-trusts of her half-sisters Finley and Harper. Judge Lynn H. Scaduto wrote that this arrangement is “in the best interests” of the girls.
In January 2024, Riley announced that she had been preparing Lisa Marie’s autobiography one year after her death to be published in October 2024. Riley also announced that she would narrate the audiobook version of her late mother’s memoir.
“I’m so excited to share my mom now, at her most vulnerable and most honest, and in doing so, I do hope that readers come to love my mom as much as I did,” she said in a statement from Random House.
Here is everything to know about Lisa Marie Presley’s four children.
Lisa Marie and her then-husband Danny welcomed their first child, daughter Danielle Riley Keough, on May 29, 1989. Riley has been open about how her mother and grandmother allowed her to grow up to be her own person, instead of living in the shadow of her famous grandfather. In September 2007, Riley explained to Oprah Winfrey that, while she knew who her grandfather was as a child, it wasn’t “this huge thing.”
That doesn’t mean that Elvis hasn’t been a big figure in Riley’s life. When Riley attended the premiere of her film Mad Max: Fury Road alongside her mother and grandmother, the trio were described as “the Presley women.”
Riley began modeling in 2004, and in May 2022, she made her directorial debut with her first film, War Pony, at the Cannes Film Festival. Riley was happy to be at the festival with her co-director Gina Gammell, saying, “We’re really just grateful to be here. This was a collaboration between all of us, and this is all of our film.”
In 2015, Riley married Australian stuntman Ben Smith-Petersen. The couple were first linked in January 2014 and reportedly met on the set of Mad Max: Fury Road.
The Golden Globe nominee has also openly mourned the loss of her brother Benjamin since his death. On the two-month anniversary of his death, Riley shared a photo of herself and her brother on Instagram. “Two months without you. I would give anything for 1 more minute with you little brother,” she wrote.
One year later, Riley told The New York Times that the last year had been difficult. It had been “a year of feeling like I was thrown into the ocean and couldn’t swim,” Riley said. “The first four or five months, I couldn’t get out of bed. I was totally debilitated. I couldn’t talk for two weeks.”
While discussing her Amazon Prime Video show Daisy Jones & The Six, Riley revealed how her character reminded her of her mom. In the series, Riley plays a free-spirited musician who defies societal norms.
“I was raised by somebody who did their own thing and didn’t really care what other people thought. [My mom] was definitely inspirational to me,” Riley said in an interview with PEOPLE. “[I was] always interested in women who weren’t behaving ‘the right way.’ ”
On Jan. 20, 2023, a week after her mother’s death, Riley shared a childhood photo of her and Lisa Marie and captioned the Instagram post with a red heart emoji.
Riley’s husband spoke on her behalf at Lisa Marie’s Graceland memorial service. The speech was filled with sweet memories from Riley’s childhood. It also revealed that she and Smith-Petersen had welcomed a baby girl.
“I’m eternally grateful to have spent 33 years with you. I’m certain I chose the best mother for me in this world … I remember everything,” Smith-Petersen read. “I remember all the notes you’d leave in my lunchbox every day. I remember the feeling I’d get when I’d see you picking me up from school … I remember how it felt to be loved by the most loving mother I’ve ever known.”
He continued: “Thank you for showing me love is the only thing that matters in this life. I hope I can love my daughter the way you loved me, the way you loved my brother and my sisters.”
Two days after laying her mom to rest, Riley shared a photo from the last time she saw Lisa Marie. The image showed the mother and daughter sitting side by side in a booth at Formosa Café in West Hollywood. They were celebrating Elvis’ birthday.
“I feel blessed to have a photo of the last time I saw my beautiful mama,” Riley captioned the photo.
In May 2023, Riley posted a sweet tribute to her mom on Instagram, marking her first Mother’s Day since Lisa Marie’s death.
“Lucky to have had the best and most deeply loving mama I could have asked for ,” she captioned a throwback photo of Lisa Marie holding her as a baby.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, published in August, Riley shared an update on her own baby, including her name: Tupelo Storm Smith-Petersen.
The name was inspired by family history: “Tupelo” is the name of the Mississippi city Elvis was born in while “Storm” was Keough’s late brother’s middle name.
In the same interview, Riley opened up about her mother’s marriage to Michael Jackson, which lasted from 1994 to 1995. “In hindsight, I can see how crazy these things would be to somebody from the outside,” she said. “But when you’re living in them, it’s just your life and your family.”
“You just remember the love, and I had real love for Michael.” Riley added.
Riley announced in January 2024 that she would be releasing her mother’s autobiography posthumously in October of that year.
Lisa Marie and Danny’s second child, Benjamin Storm Presley Keough, was born on Oct. 21, 1992. As he grew up, fans were quick to notice how closely he resembled his grandfather, Elvis.
At the age of 27, however, Benjamin died by suicide in Calabasas, California. Following the news of his death in July 2020, a rep for Lisa Marie told PEOPLE, “She is completely heartbroken, inconsolable and beyond devastated but trying to stay strong for her 11-year-old twins and her oldest daughter Riley, She adored that boy. He was the love of her life.”
Benjamin’s friend, Brandon Howard, spoke to PEOPLE about Benjamin’s struggle with mental health and the “pressure” to live up to the Presley name. “Sometimes he struggled with depression, which is a serious thing with [the COVID-19 pandemic] and everything happening right now and everybody being locked in the house,” he said. “It’s a tough thing when you have a lot of pressure with your family and living up to a name and an image. It’s a lot of pressure. It’s almost like you’re pressured into having to be a musician, having to be an actor. It was good for him to go around the world and discover himself and have his own friends.”
Howard also remembered Benjamin as the person who would help others even when he was facing his own battle. “He has always been there for everybody,” he added. “In any kind of situation, he would be the one who would come crash with you on the couch for weeks until you’re actually feeling better.”
Michael Lockwood, Ben Keough and Lisa Marie Presley attend the World Premiere of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 1 at Odeon Leicester Square on November 11, 2010 in London, England
DAVE M. BENETT/GETTY
In October 2020, Benjamin was buried at Graceland, his grandfather’s home in Memphis, Tennessee. He was the first person to be buried at the home since the death of his great-grandmother in 1980. “Benjamin Storm Presley Keough was laid to rest in the Meditation Garden at Graceland with his family including his grandfather, Elvis Presley, great-grandmother, Gladys Presley, great-grandfather, Vernon Presley and great-great-grandmother, Minnie Mae Presley,” Graceland shared on Facebook.
Lisa Marie opened up about the loss on what would have been Benjamin’s 28th birthday in 2020. “My beautiful beautiful angel, I worshipped the ground you walked on, on this earth and now in Heaven,” she wrote alongside a photo from his 27th birthday. “My heart and soul went with you. The depth of the pain is suffocating and bottomless without you every moment of every day.”
Less than a week before Lisa Marie died in 2023, she and friend David Kessler — a grief expert whom she befriended following Benjamin’s death in 2020 — visited the Meditation Garden at Graceland where her father and Benjamin are buried.
“We sat there mostly in silence by Ben’s grave. She showed me where she’d be buried someday, right across from her father’s grave,” Kessler recalled to PEOPLE. “I said, ‘Not for a long time,’ and she was like, ‘Nope, I got a lot to do still.’ She was very excited about what was coming up. She had such a challenging first and second act of life, and she was about to take on this third act that was so much about helping people.”
Harper and Finley Lockwood, 15
Lisa Marie Presley with daughters Harper and Finley Lockwood
RILEY KEOUGH INSTAGRAM
In 2008, Lisa Marie announced that she and her then-husband Lockwood were expecting a baby. The pair later announced that they were in fact expecting twins. Daughters Finley Aaron Love and Harper Vivienne Anne were born on Oct. 7, 2008.
Lisa Marie’s mother, Priscilla Presley, was present for Finley Harper’s births. Priscilla said that she saw each baby take their first breaths and that she was “very thrilled” about becoming a grandmother again. Shortly after, Priscilla spoke to Entertainment Tonight about how Lisa Marie and Lockwood were doing. “Mother is doing great,” she said. “Father’s a little nervous. He’s a first-time dad, so it is the most beautiful thing to watch the way he holds and carries the babies. It’s so endearing to watch how delicate he is with the babies.”
After 10 years of marriage, Lisa Marie filed for divorce from Lockwood in June 2016. The two were soon engaged in a tough custody battle, and the twins were placed in protective custody after Lisa Marie’s legal team alleged that “disturbing” photos of children were found on a computer belonging to Lockwood. The twins lived with their grandmother following the allegations.
“There is Lots of confusion, commotion and concern from all the talk circulating,” Priscilla shared on Facebook. “Let me put this to rest … the girls have not been in foster care and never will be. The girls have been with me and will be until all this is sorted out.”
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation closed its inquiry into the allegations in 2017, with T.B.I. Public Information Officer Josh DeVine telling PEOPLE, “Barring any new potential evidence or information, we have concluded our involvement in this matter. We have not been able to determine if a crime occurred in Tennessee and accordingly do not have an open investigation.” The office also made it clear that a formal investigation was never opened, only an inquiry to “determine if [it] could substantiate information with which to open a case.”
Harper Vivienne Ann Lockwood, Lisa Marie Presley, Priscilla Presley, Riley Keough, and Finley Aaron Love Lockwood attend the Handprint Ceremony honoring Three Generations of Presley’s at TCL Chinese Theatre on June 21, 2022 in Hollywood, California
In October 2017, Lisa Marie stepped out with all three of her daughters at an ELLE Women in Hollywood event. This was the first time Lisa Marie had attended a public event with all three girls.
And at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Lisa Marie and the twins began fostering rescue puppies. Lisa Marie shared the news on Instagram when she posted a photo of the twins and herself holding one of the dogs. “We’ve been fostering pups from a shelter,” she wrote. “Exhausting but so rewarding be well❤️.”
After Lisa Marie’s death, Lockwood said that their twins would “carry on the family legacy” in a statement to PEOPLE.
“The most important thing to me at this time is to take care of my daughters, making sure they always feel safe and loved,” he said. “Both of them have incredible spirit and they will carry our family’s legacy on for the rest of their lives.”
Lockwood was named the twins’ guardian ad litem during the legal battle regarding Lisa Marie’s will. It was eventually decided that Riley would be the sole trustee of the twins’ sub-trusts created by their mother.
