Riley Keough has revealed she “burst into tears” while listening to tapes of her late mother Lisa Marie Presley to complete her forthcoming memoir.
The actress has opened up about finishing her mother’s memoir after promising to help her with the project shortly before her death in January 2023 at the age of 54.
To help her complete the book, the Zola star listened to tapes of her mother talking about her relationship with her father Elvis Presley, motherhood, the death of her son Benjamin and more.
“The tapes are an incredible portrait of the force of nature that she was,” Riley told People of her mum. “Depending on the day and her mood, she can sound locked-in or distracted, vulnerable and open or annoyed and closed off, hopeful, angry, everything. You hear her in all her complications.”
In the book’s introduction, the Daisy Jones & The Six actress admitted that she was “so afraid” to hear her mother’s voice on the tapes.
“I began listening to her speak. It was incredibly painful but I couldn’t stop,” the star wrote. “It was like she was in the room, talking to me. I instantly felt like a child again and I burst into tears.”
While it was emotional listening to them, Riley acknowledged that she was privileged to have such extensive recordings of her mother.
The 35-year-old told the publication that she wanted to complete the memoir to give the public a better sense of who Lisa Marie was.
“What she wanted to do in her memoir, and what I hope I’ve done in finishing it for her, is to go beneath the magazine headline idea of her and reveal the core of who she was,” Riley explained.
“To turn her into a three-dimensional human being: the best mother, a wild child, a fierce friend, an underrated artist, frank, funny, traumatized, joyous, grieving, everything that she was throughout her remarkable life.”
From Here to the Great Unknown will be released on 8 October.
