Riley Keough Quotes

I have a vague memory of this one conversation we had in that room about a passage that Elvis had underlined. I started to call someone to help me remember it, but realized that there's no one left to call

When my brother died, I was hit with the realization that he was nowhere to be found on Earth. I could travel anywhere and never find him. No matter how far I flew, how far I drove, how far I walked, he was gone. I remember driving through Northern California and passing an immense expanse of empty farmland, and thinking that he wasn’t in there, either. He could never be found, no matter how hard I looked.

My mother was the only person who would say no to God

She mothers my daughter through me.

Once the gates closed, Graceland was like its own city, its own jurisdiction. My dad was the chief of police, and everybody was ranked. There were a few laws and rules, but mostly not.

My mom came up with all kinds of reasons why she didn't want to get off drugs, but I think one of the most poignant ones was her feeling of shame about becoming an addict with two young children. Her parenting standards were so high that I don't think she could ever truly get sober knowing what she had put my sisters through. The one thing that she had always prided herself on was that she was a great mother. She said, "My music wasn't that successful. I didn't finish high school. I'm not beautiful. I'm not good enough - but I'm a great mother." When she started to feel like she wasn't even that, she couldn't handle it....

If I look back at everything, my whole life, I can just lose it. Try, fail, try, fail, good, bad, fail. I get really overwhelmed and start crying, looking at how fucked up my life has been. Sometimes it feels like there’s nothing left, no purpose. Like there’s nothing I want to accomplish anymore. No goal, no anything. Zero. I have three remaining children, so I fight it, I fight it, I fight it, I fight it, I fight it. But it’s fucking there, alive and well. It’s a lion’s roar and I have to shut it down, shut it up. I’m surprised I’m still alive. I can’t believe I’m still standing. It feels wrong to be alive without Ben.

He wasn't an angry person, he didn't live there. Some people full-on live in destruction. Others buy real estate and walk around in anger for a little while. My dad would just visit.

Or that I'm so strong. That's the thing that I hear. Which makes me so crazy. Because that makes me go, 'what for though?

It’ll hit me still, on and off it comes. There have been nights as an adult when I would just get drunk and listen to his music and sit there and cry. The grief still comes. It’s still just there.

I was so afraid to hear my mother’s voice - the physical connection we have to the voices of our loved ones is profound. I decided to lie in my bed because I know how heavy grief makes my body feel.