Quote · Call Her Daddy
Riley Keough: Nepo babies, Addiction & Grief (FBF)
Where this was said
Lisa Marie's Addiction and the Caretaker Role Reversal
At 42:29 · chapter starts 39:33
Riley describes the shift as gradual but total. Lisa Marie had always been the family leader — the strong center around whom everything organized. When she fell into opioid addiction, that changed, and Riley stepped into a caretaker role she hadn't chosen. [1] — Riley Keough "In her mid-20s, Riley's mother Lisa Marie Presley fell into opioid addiction, and the mother-daughter dynamic quietly but entirely flipped …" 39:33 The strangest part, Riley says, is that her mother didn't realize it was happening. And you can't say 'I don't want to be your parent' — the whole dynamic is unsaid. Alex relates, describing her own therapy work around a similar dynamic with her mother and how difficult it is even in relatively mild forms. Riley and Alex agree that this is a nearly universal experience — the parent who used to be the person you called with problems gradually becomes someone who calls you with theirs — but it doesn't make it less disorienting when it happens. Riley says her response to all of it, as a parent now herself, is a firm intention: she will not make her children feel that her happiness is their responsibility.
Riley says her mother Lisa Marie Presley fell into opioid addiction during Riley's mid-20s, which fundamentally shifted the mother-daughter dynamic so that Riley became the caretaker.
In her mid-20s, Riley's mother Lisa Marie Presley fell into opioid addiction, and the mother-daughter dynamic quietly but entirely flipped — Riley became the caretaker. The strangest part: Lisa Marie didn't notice it was happening.
Lisa Marie Presley never talked about her grief after Elvis died — only about Elvis himself. Because her grief was so public, she kept her feelings private, and Riley believes she didn't truly begin to process it until her late 40s or 50s.