Riley Keough Reveals Her One-Year-Old Daughter Was Born Via Surrogate After Welcoming Her In Secret In 2022.
In August 2022, Riley Keough and her husband, Ben Smith-Peterson, celebrated the arrival of their daughter. However, they chose to cherish this moment privately until the beginning of this year. The world was introduced to the couple’s precious daughter when Ben spoke during his mother-in-law Lisa Marie Presley’s memorial service in January. During his speech, he shared a heartfelt message from Riley, which said:
“I hope I can love my daughter the way you loved me, the way you loved my brother and my sisters. Thank you for giving me strength, my heart, my empathy, my courage, my sense of humor, my manners, my temper, my wildness, my tenacity. I’m a product of your heart, my sisters are a product of your heart, my brother is a product of your heart.”
While they revealed that they have a daughter together, baby girl’s name was a secret…until now.
RELATED: Riley Keough Finally Reveals Her Daughter’s Name
Fans didn’t even know she and her husband were expecting a baby, let alone had one at home with them. They named her Tupelo Storm Smith-Peterson. Tupelo is a nod to her grandfather’s birthplace Tupelo, Mississippi, and Storm was her late brother, Benjamin’s middle name.
In a new interview with Vanity Fair, Keough shared that they welcomed Tupelo via surrogate.
“I think it’s a very cool, selfless, and incredible act that these women do to help other people. I can carry children, but it felt like the best choice for what I had going on physically with the autoimmune stuff,” she said in the interview.
The autoimmune stuff she is speaking about is Lyme Disease, which she has been battling for several years.
Riley and Ben chose the name Tupelo because it was less obvious than “Memphis” in honor of her grandfather. But once the 2022 Elvis movie came out, the city Tupelo was mentioned quite a few times.
“It’s funny because we picked her name before the Elvis movie. I was like, ‘This is great because it’s not really a well-known word or name in relation to my family—it’s not like Memphis or something.’ Then when the Elvis movie came out, it was like, Tupelo this and Tupelo that. I was like, ‘Oh, no.’ But it’s fine.“
Riley has not posted any photos of Tupelo on social media. But she did offer some insight into what her daughter looks like, saying, “She’s literally like someone shrunk my husband and that’s our baby.”
A paparazzi spotted her with Ben and Tupelo out recently, and she is so adorable!