Riley Keough reflected on her experiences spending time at two of the most famous estates in music history: her one-time stepfather Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch, and her grandfather Elvis Presley’s Graceland estate.

In a new interview with Vanity Fair editor Britt Hennemuth, Keough spoke warmly of the late king of pop and her time at his estate.

Reflecting on whether she liked Neverland Ranch or Graceland better, Keough said Neverland felt more like home to her, largely because Graceland was open to the public by the time she was born.

“I spent more time at Neverland than Graceland, to be honest. That was a real home, whereas Graceland was a museum in my lifetime,” she said.

Jackson’s 2,700-acre estate was listed for $200 million in 2015, and eventually sold for $22 million in 2020, a decade after the singer’s death.

Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley during The 12th Annual MTV Video Music Awards in 1995. Kevin Mazur/WireImage
“I had real love for Michael,” Keough said of the “Thriller” singer. She recalled that “he really got a kick out of being able to make people happy, in the most epic way possible,” like how Jackson once had a toy store in Europe shut down so that she could buy a teddy bear.

Keough’s mother left her father, musician Danny Keough, in 1994 and eloped with Jackson 20 days later in the Dominican Republic. Jackson had just settled a sexual abuse lawsuit with a 13-year-old boy’s family, and had reportedly turned to Lisa Marie for support. The marriage was dissolved a year and a half later.

Although Neverland Ranch was more of a home to her, Keough recalled fond memories of Graceland, too. She told Vanity Fair she would visit the tourist spot with her mother and late brother Benjamin Keough (who died by suicide in 2020) for Thanksgiving and stay at the official hotel. When it closed to the public at night, she and her family would go explore the grounds on golf carts.

“When Elvis’s chefs were alive, they used to still cook dinner for us, which was really special,” she said. “It was very Southern: greens and fried catfish and fried chicken and hush puppies. Cornbread and beans. Banana pudding.”

Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough. Katy Winn/AP

On rare occasions, she said she’d sleepover on the home’s second floor, which was closed to the public because Elvis had died there.

“The tours would start in the morning, and we would hide upstairs until they were over,” she told Vanity Fair. “The security would bring us breakfast. It’s actually such a great memory. We would order sausage and biscuits, and hide until the tourists finished.”

Keough recently became the owner of Graceland after a legal battle with her grandmother Priscilla Presley, following Lisa Marie’s sudden death in January. Lisa Marie, Elvis’ only child, had inherited Graceland following his death in 1977.