Elvis Presley's granddaughter Riley Keough discusses the 'Presley curse'; 'It's such a weird question'

Riley Keough is the sole heir of Graceland, Elvis Presley's historic home, which he shared with his ex-wife Priscilla, and their daughter, Lisa Marie. Following the death of her mother and her brother, Keough is opening up about her family, specifically, about the Presley family curse. 

© Jamie McCarthy

Keough is currently promoting her mother's memoir, "From Here to the Great Unknown," which she completed and co-authored. In a chat with author Taylor Jenkins Reed, Keough addressed her family and the "curse" that many outlets and pop culture have prescribed to them. 

"I get asked a lot on this book tour, ‘How did I avoid the curse of the Presleys?’ And it's such a weird question,” said Keough.

“I think the word ‘curse’ is used because my family are looked at as this not real mythology or something, but really it's just very common things, like addiction.” 

“Everyone in here has loved somebody with addiction issues or has lost somebody tragically,” she said. “I mean, the hope is that the future generations of our family aren't going to struggle so much with addiction. Of course, that's the dream.”

The curse seems to refer to Presley and Lisa Marie's problems with addiction, and the death of Benjamin Keough, Riley's brother. 

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Keough has always known she'd be involved in running Graceland

While Keough has received plenty of media attention regarding Graceland following her mother's death, the estate is something that she's been involved with since her 20s.

"There was a lot of attention on it and me, but prior to that, it was something I was very involved in,” said Keough.

“And my mom was very … if there were things with the estate, whatever we were, I was very involved in it already. So it wasn't like, ‘Whoa, what is this new thing?’ My mom would come to me with everything.”

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