Riley Keough Says She Wants to ‘Preserve’ Graceland (Exclusive)

Graceland is in good hands with Riley Keough.

Since August 2023 the Daisy Jones and the Six The 35-year-old actress served as sole manager of her late mother Lisa Marie Presley’s estate and owner of her grandfather Elvis Presley’s beloved mansion in Memphis, Tennessee.

“My hope is to continue what my grandmother did [Priscilla Presley] I did it, and then my mom did it, which is just to preserve our family home,” Riley tells PEOPLE via email for this week’s cover story.

Keough also heads the trusts of her 15-year-old sisters Finley and Harper Lockwood, Lisa Marie’s daughters from her 2006-2021 marriage to ex-husband Michael Lockwood.

This week’s PEOPLE cover story features the first excerpt from Lisa Marie’s memoir: From here to the great unknownwhich Riley completed after her mother’s death at age 54 in 2023 from a small bowel obstruction that had developed following bariatric surgery several years earlier.

To complete the memoir she had promised her mother she would write before her death, Riley listened to cassettes of memories recorded by Lisa Marie.

“Because my mother was Elvis Presley’s daughter, she was constantly talked about, argued about, and dissected,” Riley says. “What she wanted to do in her memoir, and what I hope I did when I finished it for her, is leave.” Behind the magazine’s headline is an idea of ​​hers, revealing the core of who she was: the best Mother, a wild child, a wild friend, an underrated artist, open-hearted, funny, traumatized, joyful, grieving – everything she was in her remarkable life, I want to express to my mother in a way that eluded her during her lifetime was.”

In the memoir, Lisa Marie talks about the love of father Elvis and how much she struggled after his death; their romantic relationships; the balm of motherhood; the devastating death of her son Benjamin, Riley’s brother, in 2020; and the cathartic birth of her granddaughter, Riley’s two-year-old daughter Tupelo.

“The tapes are an incredible portrait of the force of nature that she was,” says Riley. “Depending on the day and her mood, she can sound closed or distracted, vulnerable and open or annoyed and closed, hopeful and angry.”, anything. You hear them in all their complications.”

Even on the most stressful topics, Riley adds, “There wasn’t much we didn’t discuss, and I know she knew how much I loved her, just as I know how much she loved me and my brothers and sisters.” . “I don’t feel like she or I left anything unsaid, for which I am deeply grateful.”

As Riley prepares for public attention to turn once again to her mother’s story, she also looks forward to the day when Tupelo, whom she shares with her stuntman husband Ben Smith-Petersen, can read it.

“That’s one of the greatest privileges of the whole thing,” Riley says. “Not everyone has a book to read about their grandparents. This is unique to our family. And it really is a gift.”

From here to the great unknown will be released on October 8th and can be pre-ordered now wherever books are sold.

For more on how Riley Keough completes her mother Lisa Marie Presley’s powerful memoir, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands now, or subscribe here.