Presley died on Jan. 12 after suffering a cardiac arrest.
Lisa Marie Presley was a proud mama!
The only daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley was laid to rest at the family's Graceland estate in Memphis, Tennessee, with family, friends and fans in attendance. In anticipation of the release of Lisa Marie's eldest daughter, Riley Keough's latest project, Daisy Jones & The Six, ET is looking back at all the times the late singer-songwriter praised her daughter's talent as an actress.
Entering the Biz
"Riley has a really good head on her shoulders, and she is really talented, I always knew she was going to be behind the camera, she's always kind of been a director on her own, doing videos, I've got so many videos, little movies she's made her whole life," Lisa Marie gushed. "When she originated, that's what she wanted to do, and I was very level-headed about it, that I made the decision, but I didn't put her in the limelight before that, she made that determination for herself and has done really, really well."
"For the moment she's in Africa shooting Mad Max," she continued. "I couldn't be more proud, she's just, she's doing exceptionally well, I'm so proud of her."
Mad Max
"I'm just so proud of her I don't even know what to say I'm so proud!" Lisa Marie said at the time. "So proud, and she so does her thing. I just respect how she wants to do it, and well normally, I stay away because she’s so serious about her work, so, this time I said can I come tonight? Can I actually be there?"
"She thought I would hate it," she added of the film. "I don’t usually like action films, but I was like, 'You’re my daughter, you’re in the movie, I love it. I'll just be watching you in awe the whole time anyway.'"
The Good Doctor
"She's exceptional in that as well," Lisa Marie said at the time. "It's right now on a pre-viewing on iTunes, and I saw it and she had to pull me up off the floor I was crying so hard. I mean it was just - she always blows me away.
Magic Mike
"I think it's incredible, she hates it when I talk about her, but I have to, she always really owns these parts, she completely shifts," the 54-year-old said about her daughter's work in the first film of the Magic Mike franchise.
"I was explaining this is an art, it isn't -- I'm skinny and I'm pretty and I'm going to be in a movie. It's real, it's a craft, and it's an art, and she really goes there," Lisa Marie continued. "I mean, there is another one where she's, it's called Jack and Diane, and she's chopped all of her hair off, and turned into a man pretty much, I was like, 'Whoa Reily.' So um, she really goes there and I'm really proud of that."
She added. You know, if you're going to do it, do it really well and she's, she's very committed, she works really hard, she never complains, and I couldn't be more proud."
Letting Her Do Her Thing
"She has got a good gauge on her and with people. I'm very protective and worried. But I don't get in the way. I always sort of let her do her thing," Lisa Marie shared touching on Keough's modeling career. "In fact, the first time she did a show, runway show, I didn't go because I didn't want to distract attention. She was very serious. So, I'm not going to go and mess up anything or cause whatever. So, I kind of stay out of her way. She has been working since she was 13 -- very hard, and I admire her greatly and I don't get in the way if she wants to know something, I'll answer her honestly. But, she does her thing."
In addition to memorializing her Lisa Marie over the weekend, Keough paid tribute to her mom in an Instagram post Tuesday, sharing what she said is the final photo she took with her before her death on Jan. 12.
"I feel blessed to have a photo of the last time I saw my beautiful mama. Grateful @georgieflores took this."
During Sunday's memorial, Riley's husband, Ben Smith-Petersen, stepped in to read a eulogy Riley penned to her late mother. Within the letter, it was announced that Riley and Ben welcomed their first child together, a daughter.
"I'm going to read something Riley wrote," Ben said before reading her prepared words, titled "A Letter to My Mama."
"Thank you for being my mother in this life. I am eternally grateful to have spent 33 years with you. I am certain I chose the best mother for me in this world, and I knew that as far back as I can remember you," she wrote. "I remember everything. I remember you giving me baths as a baby. I remember you driving me in my car seat, listening to Aretha Franklin. I remember the way you'd cuddle me when I'd come to your bed at night, and the way you smelled."
"I remember you taking me for ice cream after school in Florida. I remember you singing to me and my brother lullabies at night, and how you'd lay with us until we fell asleep," Ben read, his voice filled with emotion. "I remember how, every time you'd leave town, you'd bring me a new tea set from Cracker Barrel."
"I remember all the notes you'd leave in my lunchbox every day. I remember the feeling I'd get when I'd see you picking me up from school, and the way your hand felt on my forehead," Riley's eulogy recalled. "I remember how it felt to be loved by the most loving mother I've ever known. I remember how safe it felt to be in your arms. I remember that feeling as a child and I remember it two weeks ago on your couch."
"Thank you for showing me that love is the only thing that matters in this life. I hope I can love my daughter the way you loved me, and the way you loved my brother and my sisters," Ben read.
"Thank you for giving me strength, my heart, my empathy, my courage, my sense of humor, my manners, my temper, my wildness, my tenacity," he concluded. "I am a product of your heart. My sisters are a product of your heart. My brother is a product of your heart. We are you, you are us, my eternal love. I hope you finally know how loved you were here. Thank you for trying so hard for us. If I didn't tell you every day, thank you."
For more on Lisa Marie, check out the video below.
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