Riley Keough Completes 'Death Doula' Training Months After Losing Brother Benjamin to Suicide
"We're unable to talk about it... then of course it happens to us, and we are very ill prepared," the actress wrote
Riley Keough is channeling her grief after losing her younger brother Benjamin last year to suicide.
The Mad Max: Fury Road actress took to Instagram Monday after finishing a training course to become a death doula, including a quote from the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi: "Be a lamp or a lifeboat or a ladder. Help someone's soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd."
"Today I finished my Death Doula training, on The Art of Death Midwifery training course by @sacred_crossings so I guess I'm an almost certified death doula now hehe," she wrote in the caption. "And I just felt like writing such a deep thank you to this community who are teaching and training people in conscious dying and death work."
She went on to muse about the stigma surrounding such practices, writing, "We are taught that its [sic] a morbid subject to talk about. Or were [sic] so afraid of it that we're unable to talk about it... then of course it happens to us, and we are very ill prepared."
"I think it's so important to be educated on conscious dying and death the way we educate ourselves on birth and conscious birthing," she continued. "We prepare ourselves so rigorously for the entrance and have no preparation for our exit. So I'm so grateful for this community and to be able to contribute what I can. Thank you Olivia."
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Benjamin Keough died by suicide July 12, 2020 in Calabasas, California. He's survived by Riley, twin sisters Finley and Harper, both 12, as well as mother Lisa Marie Presley, 53, and father Danny Keough, 56.
Riley mourned the loss with a touching tribute on Instagram at the time, writing, "I can't believe you've left me. Not you sweet Ben Ben. Anyone but you. I guess this is true heartbreak. I hope we meet again."
The granddaughter of the late Elvis Presley also paid tribute to her little brother with a tattoo of his name "Benjamin Storm" on her collarbone.