By Ahad Sanwari
Copyright hellomagazine
The Presley legacy has another new addition to celebrate! It was revealed via a new interview with family matriarch Priscilla Presley that her granddaughter Riley Keough had become a mom once again, welcoming a second child with her husband Ben Smith-Petersen earlier this year. While the baby’s name and gender have not yet been revealed, Priscilla told People that she had found “joy” in being a doting great-grandmother to her famous granddaughter’s babies, despite recent struggles over the Presley estate.
“That’s what makes me happy: knowing everyone is doing well,” Priscilla, 80, told the publication. She also spoke candidly about her own daughter Lisa Marie Presley’s final days, reflecting on the moments leading up to her sudden passing in January 2023 at the age of 54. “It was the second saddest day of my life, other than losing Elvis. It took a long time to come to terms with the fact that Lisa was gone.”
While Lisa Marie lived the majority of her life in the spotlight, not only the daughter of one of the world’s most famous young couples, but also through her four marriages, her daughter has avoided that completely. Despite Riley’s fame, she has enjoyed a much more private way of life as a mom. Take a look…
Privacy above all
Riley, 36, and Ben, 34, became parents for the first time in August 2022 when they welcomed their daughter Tupelo Storm via surrogate. The fact that she and Ben had become parents wasn’t made public until her mother’s funeral service, in which Ben read a note from Riley sharing the news. She shared her baby’s name for the first time during a conversation with Vanity Fair months later.
The actress, who suffers from Lyme disease, explained her reasoning behind opting for a surrogate. “I think it’s a very cool, selfless, and incredible act that these women do to help other people. I can carry children, but it felt like the best choice for what I had going on physically with the autoimmune stuff.”
Firstborn Tupelo Storm Petersen
“Tupelo” is a tribute to her late grandfather Elvis Presley’s place of birth in Mississippi. “It’s funny because we picked her name before the Elvis movie,” she said, referencing the Austin Butler starrer that earned him an Oscar nomination. “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 and Ben lived in Los Angeles for a while, remaining there to be close to Riley’s younger twin half-sisters Harper and Finley following the passing of Lisa Marie. She told Vanity Fair that she and Ben were moving to a more private, suburban neighborhood to be able to raise Tupelo (and now their new baby) in quiet fashion.
Lisa Marie Presley’s public life
Lisa Marie, in comparison, grew up immediately thrust into the spotlight, as the daughter of the King of Rock & Roll and his then 23-year-old bride. Her parents separated when she was just four years old, and her father’s death in 1977 made her the joint heiress to his estate. At the age of 20, she tied the knot with Danny Keough, with whom she welcomed Riley and Benjamin.
Lisa Marie married three more times after her 1994 divorce from Danny: to Michael Jackson (1994-96), Nicolas Cage (2002-04), and Michael Lockwood (2006-2021), welcoming her twin daughters with the latter. Her private life was often the subject of public scrutiny as well, due in part to the media climate at the time, although she was finally able to embrace a quieter life following the arrival of Harper and Finley.
