Priscilla Presley Highlights Bond With Riley Keough in Family Photo

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Priscilla Presley won’t be having a blue Christmas this year.

Priscilla Presley, Elvis Presley’s ex-wife, recently posted a heartwarming family photo. In the picture, she’s smiling gently alongside her family, including her granddaughter, Riley Keough.

The photo also included Riley’s father, Danny Keough, who was married to her late mother, Lisa Marie Presley. Lisa Marie’s 17-year-old twin daughters, Harper and Finley, were there with their father, Michael Lockwood. Riley posed in the picture with her husband, Ben Smith-Petersen, and one of their two children.

Priscilla shared a photo on Instagram on December 22nd with a rose emoji and the caption, “Holiday 2025 & unbreakable family bond” -P.

Let’s be real, family life can get complicated, and recently, mine has been no exception. I had to step in and defend my daughter, Riley, against some truly bizarre claims made by a former colleague. They alleged she’s the biological mother of Benjamin Travolta, John and Kelly Preston’s son. It was a really strange situation, and naturally, I wanted to protect her from such unfounded accusations.

Priscilla Presley’s lawyer called the accusation “shameful” and told TMZ it was a deliberate attempt to hurt her and her family.

This isn’t the first time the family has faced public legal battles. After Lisa Marie’s death in January 2023, Priscilla and Riley Keough were involved in a court case concerning Lisa Marie’s will.

After my mom died, our lives were really thrown into disarray,” Riley explained in an August 2023 interview with Vanity Fair. “It felt like everything was unstable and we were all scrambling to figure out what to do next. It took time to process everything because the situation was quite complex. I share my daughter, Tupelo, who is three, and another child with Ben.

We’re a family, but we also run a large business together. It was important to establish clear boundaries between the two.

Riley ultimately became responsible for managing her mother’s estate, which included taking ownership of Graceland – the home Lisa Marie had received from her father, Elvis, after he passed away in 1977.

Riley is optimistic about spending time with her grandmother, feeling confident that, as always, they’ll have a good time together. She points out they’ve always enjoyed each other’s company.

Things were a little rocky for a while, but now everything is returning to normal,” Riley said. “She’s a wonderful woman who played a major role in building my grandfather’s legacy and creating Graceland, which means a great deal to her. He was the love of her life, and it’s upsetting to see anything in the media that implies otherwise. Ultimately, she just wants to cherish and safeguard Graceland, the Presley family, and his memory.”

For a full guide to Elvis’ star-studded family tree, keep reading…

Elvis Presley was one of the most popular musicians ever. Even after his death in 1977 at age 42, he remained a huge star. He died from heart problems, which were made worse by his use of prescription drugs.

In 1959, while serving in the U.S. Army in West Germany, 23-year-old Elvis Presley met 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu. Though Priscilla has said their relationship remained mostly innocent until she turned 18, she eventually moved to Memphis to finish school. Officially, she lived with Elvis’s father, Vernon Presley, and stepmother, Dee Presley, but she spent the majority of her time at Graceland.

Elvis and Priscilla Presley were married on May 1, 1967, in Las Vegas at the Aladdin hotel. Their daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, was born nine months later, on February 1, 1968.

Priscilla, who married Elvis Presley when she was 21, shared in a 2021 interview with People how much she enjoyed caring for him. She described lovingly looking after his needs, including feeding him, and how they developed a private, playful way of communicating – a sort of baby talk – to connect amidst the constant presence of others. Despite the unusual circumstances, she remembers it as a fulfilling and uniquely special time in their lives.

Their marriage ended with a separation in February 1972, and they officially divorced the following year. Elvis later explained during a Las Vegas performance that the reason for the split was his constant travel and absence from home.

Oh, it was so sweet seeing them all try to keep things normal! Even after Mom and Priscilla moved to LA with Lisa Marie, they always came back to Graceland. It was like a little piece of heaven, you know? Mom told People magazine back in ’78 that those visits were so important for Lisa Marie, that it helped her feel safe and secure. She said there was never any fighting or bad feelings when they were all together, and honestly, that just kills me. It just shows how much they loved her and tried to protect her from everything.

Priscilla was heartbroken when Elvis died on August 16, 1977. In her 1985 memoir, Elvis and Me, she explained that she couldn’t accept he was gone forever. She described a deep connection with him, saying they both relied on each other and shared a special bond.

Lisa Marie, 9 years old at the time, was at Graceland when her father died.

In her 2024 memoir, From Here to the Great Unknown, the author shared her lifelong fear of losing her father. She recalled instances where he seemed unwell or even passed out, which deeply worried her. As a child, she expressed this fear in a poem, writing, ‘I hope my daddy doesn’t die.’

And the day he passed, she noted in the book, “my life as I knew it is completely over.”

Lisa Marie Presley later pursued a career as a singer-songwriter, and in 2003, she released her first album, To Whom It May Concern.

She married musician Danny Keough in 1988, and they had two children – a daughter, Riley Keough, and a son, Benjamin Keough – before divorcing in 1994.

Lisa Marie Presley married Michael Jackson on May 26, 1994, just weeks after her divorce was completed. Though their highly publicized marriage only lasted under two years, Lisa Marie later told Oprah Winfrey in 2010—following Michael’s death—that they continued a relationship on and off for years and that she had never felt such a strong connection with anyone else.

Let me tell you, navigating relationships in the public eye can be tricky! I remember when Lisa Marie tied the knot with Nicolas Cage back in August 2002 – he was a huge Elvis fan, which made sense given her family history. But things moved quickly, and he filed for divorce just a few months later, in November. It took a little while to finalize everything legally, but by May 2004, it was all official.

The actor announced he wouldn’t discuss their split, but shared that he still cared for Lisa Marie. She responded at the time, saying she was upset, but acknowledged the marriage was a mistake and they shouldn’t have gotten married.

When Lisa Marie married Michael Lockwood in January 2006, her ex-husband, Danny, stood by her side as best man. The couple later had twin daughters, Harper Vivienne Ann Lockwood and Finley Aaron Love Lockwood, in 2008.

Lisa Marie and her husband separated in 2016, and the divorce became complicated. During this time, her twin daughters lived with their grandmother, Priscilla. The divorce was officially completed in May 2021.

Lisa Marie Presley passed away on January 12, 2023, at the age of 54. Her death was caused by a blockage in her small intestine, a complication from previous weight-loss surgery. This happened just two days after she attended the Golden Globes to support the film Elvis, which starred Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and was directed by Baz Luhrmann.

I’ve been a fan of Priscilla Presley for years, and it’s wonderful to learn more about her family! She and Marco Garibaldi Garcia welcomed their son, Navarone, on March 1st, 1987. It’s so cool that Navarone followed in his half-sister’s footsteps and became a musician too – he’s the frontman for the band Them Guns, which is based right here in L.A. I’ve been listening to them lately and they’re really talented!

He married his girlfriend of many years, Elisa Achilli, in 2022. The wedding took place at a luxurious hotel in Switzerland, which was originally a 16th-century castle.

Priscilla shared with People magazine that they had been a couple for four years and everyone was excited for this moment to finally arrive.

Riley Keough, born on May 29, 1989, is the daughter of Lisa Marie Presley and her first husband, Danny Keough. She’s a model, singer, and actress who has appeared in projects like The Girlfriend Experience, Daisy Jones & the Six, Magic Mike, and Logan Lucky. Following her mother’s passing, she inherited full ownership of Graceland.

She also worked to finish the memoir Lisa Marie Presley had started, and when it was published in 2024, she told People magazine that her goal was to show the real person behind the public image. She wanted to portray Lisa Marie as a complex and fully realized human being—a loving mother, a free spirit, a loyal friend, a talented artist, and someone who experienced a full range of emotions—throughout her extraordinary life, including both joy and trauma.

Riley married stuntman Ben Smith-Petersen in 2015. They have two children: Tupelo Storm, born in August 2022 through surrogacy, and another child born in early 2025.

Benjamin tragically took his own life in July 2020 at the age of 27. Following his death, a spokesperson for Lisa Marie Presley shared that she was utterly heartbroken and devastated, but determined to remain strong for her twins and daughter, Riley.

Lisa Marie openly shared her struggles with grief, writing in a 2022 essay for People that loss doesn’t simply disappear with time. The full extent of her pain became even clearer after her passing.

In her memoir, she shared that after Benjamin passed away, she kept his body on dry ice at her home near Los Angeles for two months before she felt ready to say goodbye. He was finally buried at Graceland in October 2020.

Lisa Marie was buried next to her son less than three years after his death.

Harper and Finley, born on October 7, 2008, mostly keep to themselves, living with their father, Michael, who became their guardian after their mother, Lisa Marie, passed away.

Finley and Harper, the teens, rarely post on Instagram, but they recently honored their mother on the two-year anniversary of her passing in 2025. Finley shared a childhood photo of herself and her sister with their mom on her Instagram Story, writing, “2 years…i love you always.” Harper posted a picture from when they were toddlers, saying, “I can’t believe it’s been 2 years. I miss you and love you so much, Mama.”

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2025-12-24 00:48