Riley Keough offered a moving tribute to her mother at Lisa Marie Presley’s open memorial ceremony on Sunday.
Riley, 33, spoke about her mother’s unshakable love and fortitude during the tribute held at Elvis Presley’s Graceland house in Memphis, Tennessee. Ben Smith-Petersen, Riley’s spouse, also spoke at the service.
“I will be eternally grateful that we were able to spend 33 years together. I’m convinced that I had the best mother in the world for myself. I remember everything. I remember you giving me baths when I was a baby.” Smith-Petersen said on stage, “I recall the way you would embrace me… and the way you smelt,” as his wife sat in the front row with her family, including Priscilla Presley.
“I have every note you’ve ever put in my lunchbox. I still remember how I felt seeing you pick me up from school. I can still feel the unconditional affection of the most dedicated mother I’ve ever met. I appreciate you demonstrating that love is the only thing that matters in this world. I hope I can love my daughter the way you loved me and my brother and sisters,” she added. “I’m grateful to you for giving me my heart, courage, humor, manners, anger, wildness, and tenacity. I came from the bottom of your heart.”
“I hope you now realize how much you were loved here. I appreciate how hard you worked for us,” she concluded. “I’m sorry if I didn’t inform you every day.”
On Friday, Keough shared a vintage black-and-white photo of herself and Lisa Marie on Instagram.
Lisa Marie died on January 12 at 54 after being taken to a Los Angeles hospital for a possible heart attack.
Priscilla, the actress and entrepreneur, her children Riley, Finley, and Harper Lockwood, each 14, and her granddaughter survive her. Lisa Marie’s son, Benjamin Keough, died before her in 2020 when he committed suicide at 27.
Riley, whose father is Lisa Marie’s ex-husband Danny Keough, revealed in December that her mother plays Daisy Jones in her upcoming show Daisy Jones & The Six.
