Riley Keough and her loved ones are facing a difficult holiday season.
The actress reflected on her first Christmas without late brother Benjamin Keough, who died by suicide in July at 27 years old. Riley shared a candid and personal Instagram post over the weekend, telling followers how she’s coping with a new challenge in her grieving process.
“Its going to be my first Christmas without my best friend and baby brother. Words can’t describe how painful it is,” she wrote, captioning a throwback selfie of her and Benjamin posing together.
The 31-year-old went on to express compassion and sympathy for those experiencing similar struggles.
“I’m thinking of everyone whose lost someone they love and everyone else whose first Holiday it is with grief and without the person they love,” she added. “And I’m also thinking of all of the beautiful people who can’t be here with us in physical form and sending them my love wherever they may be, not too far away.”
Riley and her famous family mourned another bittersweet milestone in October, penning emotional social media tributes to Benjamin on what would have been his 28th birthday. His and Riley’s mother, Lisa Marie Presley, honored what she loved most about Benjamin and how the pain of his loss is something she’ll carry forever.
“My beautiful beautiful angel, I worshipped the ground you walked on, on this earth and now in Heaven. My heart and soul went with you. The depth of the pain is suffocating and bottomless without you every moment of every day. I will never be the same,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “Please wait for me my love, and hold my hand while I stay to continue to protect and raise your little sisters and to be here for Riley. I know you would want that. Happy Birthday my sweet sweet Boy. You were much too good for this world.”
Following the news of Benjamin’s tragic death, a rep for Lisa Marie told Access Hollywood that the singer was “completely heartbroken, inconsolable and beyond devastated but trying to stay strong for her 11-year-old twins and her oldest daughter Riley.”
Adding, “She adored that boy. He was the love of her life.”
Benjamin is buried near his grandfather, Elvis Presley, at Graceland.
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