She's been making the rounds promoting her mom's biography (which Lisa Marie wrote but didn't finish before she died so Keough finished for her using tapes LM made while she was writing the book). I was familiar with her as an actress in a couple things but had never really heard her speak extensively. Plus she's been talking a lot about her childhood and her family including the experience of having Michael Jackson as a stepdad and living at both Graceland and Neverland Ranch at different parts of her childhood. It's really fascinating. Here's a link to the Fresh Air interview with her that aired yesterday:
https://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/2024/10/14/fresh-air-for-october-14-2024
A few things that really jump out at me:
- She never graduated high school and her education was pretty meager because Lisa Marie was not terribly committed to ensuring she and her brother went to school but she comes off as highly intelligent and well spoken. It sounds like Riley's dad (Danny Keough) is pretty intellectual so that was likely an influence but I still think it's impressive.
- She sounds like an extraordinarily empathetic person while also being critical and having good judgment. This is impressive to me given how tumultuous her upbringing must have been and also all the personal tragedy and grief she's experienced in recent years with her mother's and brother's deaths (very young deaths).
- Her descriptions of Michael Jackson as a stepdad are fascinating and the way she handles some pretty difficult questions about him is commendable. She's asked about rumors that her mom's marriage to MJ was a scam to distract people from his child abuse allegations and she's quite convincing that the marriage seemed authentically based on love to her and also that it was MJ's drug use and related erratic behavior that blew up the marriage. I have no idea what I think of all that but it was really interesting to hear from someone on the inside of that family talking about it.