Nepo Baby Riley Keough, Elvis Presley’s Granddaughter, Admits Her ‘Privilege’ Has Made Her Career Easier

Nepo baby Riley Keough, the late singer Elvis Presley’s granddaughter, has admitted that her familial ties to the singer have made her career easier as she opens up about her choice to enter the acting industry. In a recent interview, Keough, 35, recognized that her nepotism has helped her make strides. “I’m sure being Elvis’ granddaughter has made it easier for me to get an agent, to have meetings and all this stuff, when I started out,” Keough told Elle. “I know there’s so much nepo-baby stuff at the moment [and] I certainly acknowledge that aspect of the privilege of coming where I come from.”

While the actress was upfront about its contributions to her success, she noted that her mother, Lisa Presley, struggled with only being recognized as Elvis’ daughter. On Jan. 12, 2023, Lisa died after succumbing to a cardiac arrest at her home in Calabasas, California. She was only 54 years old. Opening up about some of her mother’s struggles, Keough said, “I think that, in her case, which isn’t always the case, being the daughter of someone that famous and iconic made it really hard for her to try and have a career, but also to be a person away from that at all.”

She added, “Her entire identity was being Elvis’s daughter. The most heartbreaking thing for me, growing up, was to watch this woman, who I could tell so deeply wanted love and friendship, really struggle to find it. I think that’s really common at that level of fame. Being Elvis’s daughter is different to being other people’s daughters, I think. Not to say she didn’t have a few great friendships and relationships in her life – it just was always a struggle.”

Keough rose to fame after starring in Prime Video’s adaptation of Daisy Jones & The Six but revealed that her parents were not always fond of her taking on a career in performing. “I felt like I was getting into something that could go terribly wrong,” she said. “[My mom] would say to me: ‘If you’re going to do this, you have to be so good at what you do, or else nobody’s going to take you seriously, you’re not going to get any jobs, and it’s going to be embarrassing.’”

At the time of her mother’s death, Keough started writing her mother’s memoir, From Here to the Great Unknown, which was released on Oct. 15. In the book, she revealed that Lisa Marie kept her dead son in their house for six months on dry ice after his death. “There are all these things that are left undone when a person leaves when they pass away. How could I not finish it for her?” Keough said about wanting to complete the memoir. “It felt more like a duty, I suppose. I just felt like something drove me to complete it for her.”

“To have all the details, how she felt in these moments, was really special,” she continued. “I love stories and storytelling, so I love the nuance. I think that was the coolest thing.”