Riley Keough reveals she welcomed her baby daughter via surrogate to avoid Lyme disease complications – as she shares unusual name she gave her as a touching tribute to grandfather Elvis Presley
Riley Keough has revealed that she welcomed her daughter via surrogate – while also sharing that her little one’s name is a poignant tribute to her grandad, Elvis Presley. The Daisy Jones & the Six actress, 34, who is the daughter of the late Lisa Marie Presley and Danny Keough, became a mother for the first time with her husband Ben Smith-Petersen last year.
Tupelo Storm Smith-Petersen arrived in August 2022, however the news of her birth wasn’t shared until Riley’s heartbreaking eulogy to her mother Lisa Marie in January 2023.
In a new interview with Vanity Fair, Riley talked candidly about enlisting a surrogate to carry her child, while also explaining how her daughter’s unusual name is a sweet homage to the King of Rock and Roll.
Explaining her decision to use a surrogate, Riley pointed to her Lyme disease, noting that while she ‘can carry children’, she chose not to so as to avoid any potential autoimmune complications.
‘I think it’s a very cool, selfless, and incredible act that these women do to help other people,’ she said.
‘I can carry children, but it felt like the best choice for what I had going on physically with the autoimmune stuff.’
Lyme disease is an illness caused by borrelia bacteria, which if left untreated can lead to infection of the placenta during pregnancy.
Her daughter’s name Tupelo of course is a reference to Elvis’s birthplace in Mississippi, with Riley explaining that she originally picked the moniker because she felt it would be a way of honoring her grandfather that wasn’t quite as ‘well-known’ as something like Memphis.
‘I was like, “This is great because it’s not really a well-known word or name in relation to my family—it’s not like Memphis or something,”‘ Riley said.
However, the new mother’s plans for a lesser-known homage to Elvis were somewhat ruined by the release of the Elvis biopic – which featured many prominent references to the singer’s birthplace.
When Baz Luhrmann’s Oscar nominated movie starring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks came out in May 2022, Tupelo was mentioned left, right, and center.
‘It’s funny because we picked her name before the Elvis movie,’ she said. ‘I was like, “Oh, no”,’ Riley admitted to the publication. ‘But it’s fine.’
