7 Revealing Moments From Oprah Winfrey's Interview With Elvis Presley's Granddaughter Riley Keefe

Elvis Presley's first born, Riley Keough, shares an intimate look at life inside Memphis' Graceland, where her late mother Lisa Marie Presley spent part of her childhood.

Keough, the Sole heir to the famous estateHer mother — the only daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley — learned some new details about her family while parsing through hours of audio recordings made while working on her memoir, “From Here to the Great Unknown.” Keough fulfilled her mother's wishes and later ended up co-writing the book He died at the age of 54 In January 2023. Only the name of the memoir Winfrey's 108th book club pick.

in a exclusive special On Tuesday night's broadcast with Oprah Winfrey, Keough shared her mother's last recorded words, discussed Elvis' influence on her family and more.

“I think she absolutely revealed a part of herself in the book,” Winfrey said during the “Ann Oprah Special: The Presleys — Elvis, Lisa Marie and Riley,” produced by Harpo Productions.

Here are some highlights from the hour-long special.

Keough said the mother's last words were “very poignant”.

A few months before her death, Lisa asked Marie Keough to help her finish her memoir.

“He was incredibly insecure and I think there were moments where he was kind of going, 'Why am I writing a book about myself?' He doesn't particularly like to talk about himself,” Keough told Winfrey.

While she struggled to share personal details about her life, Keough said her mother felt compelled to tell her story in hopes of connecting with people and sending a message “in a hopeful way,” especially after her. Son Benjamin Keefe died by suicide In 2020.

In the recordings, Lisa Marie described Graceland as a whirlwind with no rules and said she was “mostly into mischief” and “a real wild child”.

As an adult, Lisa Marie often returned to the property to feel her father's presence.

“Trying to grieve my dad; if I go there, it's still there. I don't necessarily cry, but I still feel all the energy that's there. It's still there,” Lisa Marie can be heard saying in an audio recording.

In a way, Keough said it was a “beautiful blessing” to hear some of her mother's last words on tape, but she described hearing them as “very intense”.

“It was a strange experience because, after 30 minutes of it, it felt like he was there,” Keough said.

Keough said her mother was a “self-proclaimed daddy's girl”.

“I feel so honored that I got to spend any time with him,” Lisa Marie said in a recording. Elvis died in 1977 at the age of 42, when Lisa Marie was only 9 years old.

Lisa Marie's last exchange with Elvis before her death

Keough shows Winfrey that Lisa Marie and Elvis talked to each other: the back entrance leads to Graceland's patio. He was coming from racquetball and he was going to ride his golf cart.

On the morning of Elvis' death, on August 16, 1977, Keough said her mother woke up and instinctively knew something was wrong.

Keough said the memoir is the first time Lisa Marie has spoken in detail about that day.

“And she said good night to him and I think she knew how to say good night, like she had some sense. I think she realized a lot of times that she wasn't right, you know?” Keough explained. “He used to tell me that, you know, sometimes he'd see him in his bathroom or holding the railing, you know, standing up straight. And he also wrote these letters when he was little and we'd say, I hope my father doesn't die. So there was some kind of feeling there.”

Lisa Marie describes thousands of views Mourning fan File home to pay tribute to his father, known as the “King of Rock and Roll.”

In his memoirs, he described being “so busy looking at everyone else's misery” that he struggled with himself. After everyone left at night, Lisa Marie would go downstairs to see her father's body.

“I went over to where she was lying, just to be with her, to touch her face and hold her hand and talk to her. I asked her, 'Why is this happening? Why are you doing this?' ” Lisa Marie wrote in her memoir.

Inside Lisa Marie and Michael Jackson's relationship

After divorcing Riley and Ben Keefe's father, Danny Keough, Lisa Marie made waves when she announced that she and Michael Jackson tied the knot in 1994. The marriage lasted two years. At the time, Keough recalls Jackson being nicknamed “MM”.

“I remember how much he loved it [Michael Jackson]. He was really obsessed with her,” Keough said.

Lisa Marie spoke about her adoration for Jackson in the audio recording, saying that he always made sure to pay attention to others and make sure they were heard.

“He would be really interested and fascinated by what you had to say about what you did. So he would lift people up. I saw him do that all the time. It was amazing. You know, he did that to me.” About Lisa Marie Jackson said

Keo described the couple as having a “very seemingly happy, loving relationship”. The pair often stayed at Lisa Marie's house instead of Jackson's Neverland to create a sense of normalcy for the family – getting ready and taking the kids to school together.

Lisa Marie was later briefly married to Nicolas Cage in 2002. She then married Michael Lockwood from 2006 to 2021. Their twin daughters, Harper and Finley, who are just 16 years old.

Keefe described an “unbearably dark” time for the family

Keough said her mother was a rebellious teenager, but he didn't believe she had a “provetical drug problem.”

It wasn't until she was nearly 40 when she gave birth to her twin girls via a C-section in 2008 that she got her first taste of opioids. At one point, he was taking dozens of pills a day, according to the book.

“He would pull me aside and say, 'I — I'm taking opiates. And at first, I was taking them for pain. Then I was taking them to sleep at night. Now it's like I'm taking them. They're for fun,'” Keough recalled.

Eventually, he went to rehab but later returned to the pills.

Drug abuse spiraled into chaos, and Keough said her mother and twins had to accompany her to Nashville. His father, Danny Keough, also stepped in to help.

In the book, Keough writes, “It seemed like everyone could have been better together. But it felt like the end. We had this amazing, colorful, beautiful, abundant, fun, happy life – but that house took a turn and it was unbearable darkness for all of us.” Done.”

At that point, Keough realized that rehab might not work and that Lisa Marie's problems were probably deeper than some accidental drug problem. Alone and drunk, Keo often saw his mother cry after listening to Elvis' music.

Lisa Marie said the boy “had a lot of choices [Elvis] It scared me.”

Winfrey takes Lisa Marie as her word I didn't know if she would be able to do it after her son's suicide In 2020. He struggled with drugs and alcohol throughout his life.

“I knew it was the end of him. You know that?” Keough admitted. “I couldn't imagine a world where she would make it without him.”

In her memoir, Lisa Marie writes about her close relationship with her son.

“Ben was very similar to his grandfather, very, very, very, and in every way. He even looked like him. Ben was so like him, it scared me. I didn't want to tell him because I thought it was too much for a kid. More often than not she would tell me that my father and her mother had the same relationship and she drank herself worried about Ben,” Lisa Marie wrote.

After Ben's death, Lisa Marie and Keough go through his phone, where they discover a message from him suggesting he has mental health issues. This surprised Keefe. He knew that she liked to party and “go on these benders” but he didn't find her disappointing.

Winfrey said that “one of the most poignant things” shared in the book is how Lisa Marie mourned Ben by bringing his coffin home for nearly two months.

Keough said her mother found a very sympathetic funeral home owner who explained how she could keep the casket with her until she was ready for burial. As part of that preservation process he regularly brought in dry ice. And he would often just sit with his body.

Lisa Marie was buried next to Ben In the meditation garden at Graceland, where Elvis was also laid to rest.

Keough said he was worried about Lisa Marie in the weeks before her death.

“I think there was always an undertone for me because of this feeling that I felt like I was on borrowed time with him,” Keough said.

Mother-son tattoo together

Before she said her final goodbyes and buried Ben, Lisa Marie wanted to fulfill one final wish: to get a matching tattoo with her son.

“I think the story might be — on paper, I can see it sounds completely crazy and absurd. But I — my mother was very much herself. And I — I don't know if you knew her. Nothing — you You know, she wasn't a crazy woman,” Keough said before launching into the story.

Lisa Marie brought in a tattoo artist to inscribe Ben's name on her arm. To get the placement right, he brought the artist into the room and opened Ben's coffin to show him his hand.

“[The tattoo artist]God bless him, was very natural about the whole thing,” Keough said, calling it “definitely one of those, like, absurd moments.”

He recalls his mother opening the casket and the tattoo artist studying the placement and going back and redoing it for him.

“When he left I was like, 'Do you know how crazy that was, what you just did?' Joking with Winfrey, Keough asked her mom if the tattoo artist would probably write a book about it at some point.

Graceland's future and a powerful lesson learned

Keough, an actress who starred in “Daisy Jones and the Six,” said she plans to continue running the beloved Graceland property — which houses more than 2,000 people. Travel daily.

“I think my instinct with everything has always been to do what my mom wanted. Which is to keep this a home. This was our family home,” Keough said.

Keough said she had a hard time with her mother – but the love was always there. And that's something he hopes to pass along Her 2-year-old daughter is Tupelo.

“I think if I can fix it [Tupelo] I love the way my mother made us feel loved. It was unconditional. Really,” she said.

Keough added, “He did things — we had fights. He did things that I, you know, didn't approve of. We'd have horrible interactions, like you do with somebody who's on drugs. But … the love was always there, you know? “

If you or someone you know is experiencing mental distress or a suicidal crisis, you can reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. You can also chat with 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline here.

For more information about mental health care resources and support, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Helpline can be contacted Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET, at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or by email at info@ can nami.org