riley koeugh© Photo: Getty Images

Riley Keough recalls her relationship with stepfather Michael Jackson: 'I loved him'

The late Thriller singer was married to Lisa Marie Presley for two years

Beatriz Colon - New York
New York WriterNew York
January 26, 2023

Riley Keough was thrust into a world of musical legends from the moment she was born in 1989.

She is the very first granddaughter of Elvis Presley, born to his only daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, who the late singer shared with his ex-wife, Priscilla Presley.

Plus, her connection to music history surpassed her own family, as for two years after she turned five years old, she had none other than Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, as her stepfather.

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Lisa Marie, who passed away on January 12 and was laid to rest on January 22 in Graceland, was married to the Billie Jean hitmaker from 1994 to 1996, when Riley was five to seven years old.

She married him the same year she split from the Daisy Jones & the Six actress' father, Danny Keough, who she called her husband from 1988 to 1994.

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Though her mother's marriage to the legendary pop star was brief, she remembers her former stepfather fondly, and recalled her relationship with him in a 2017 interview with T Magazine. "I loved him," she told writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner at the time.

© Photo: Getty Images

The pair had an on-and-off relationship for several years

The first-time mom – the arrival of her baby girl was recently confirmed by her husband Ben Smith-Petersen – grew up not only between Los Angeles and Hawai'i, but between two of the most iconic estates in music history, Graceland, and Michael's Neverland Ranch.

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"There were toys everywhere, animals everywhere, kids everywhere," she recalled of the Love Never Felt So Good hitmaker's Los Olivos, California ranch.

© Photo: Getty Images

The former couple had a highly publicized romance

She added: "It was like being at Disneyland all day," of her time as the star's stepdaughter, which came before he had any kids of his own. People reports that she once wrote of her stepfather: "He was an amazing person and I am lucky to have gotten as close to him as I did and to have had the many experiences and years that we had together."

The former Jackson 5 member, who passed away in 2009, has three children of his own, Paris, Prince, and Prince "Blanket" Jackson II. In 1993 and after his death, multiple allegations of child molestation were brought against him, including throughout a 1993 trial after dentist Evan Chandler accused him of abusing her son, and in the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland.

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