Riley Keough Says She Knew She Was Going to Marry Husband Ben Smith-Petersen After Their Second Date

Riley Keough and Ben Smith-Petersen have been happily married for more than eight years, and during their second date, the Daisy Jones & the Six star predicted their future together. On The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on March 1, 2023, the actress told host Stephen Colbert that she had a premonition Smith-Petersen, an Australian stuntman, would become her husband one day. “I don't see the future, but I know certain things are going to happen,” she reveals. "Like, when I met my husband, he came out of the gas station on our second date, and I thought, 'I'm going to marry him and have kids with him.’ I just knew. We didn't even say 'I love you' yet." Colbert then asked the actress, who is the daughter of Lisa Marie Presley and Danny Keough, when she professed her love to her now-husband. “It certainly wasn’t at that point,” she clarifies. “I thought, ‘If I tell him now, he will leave me here in Australia at the gas station.'”

The Zola actress told USA Today in 2016 that their connection was strong right off the bat. “We’re obsessed with each other, but it was deeper than that,” she shared. “I always felt comfortable around him. You know when you feel weird when you first start dating someone, or like, you don’t want to eat in front of them, you wake up and put make up on, or something weird? I just always felt very comfortable with him—always wanted to be near him, even from the beginning.” 

Keough first met Smith-Petersen in 2012 while filming Mad Max: Fury Road. Although they introduced themselves on set, they didn’t start dating until the following year while shooting do-over scenes in Australia. Just after a year of dating, Smith-Petersen popped the question with a diamond ring made from a gem that his mother gifted him, according to USA Today. 

Then, on February 4, 2015, the couple tied the knot in Napa, California, just as Keough predicted. “I’m so excited!” she gushed to Town & Country after their wedding. “He’s the one! We’re going to be together forever. [Marriage is] the right thing [for us] to do right now. Like, I want to have children with Ben, and I know we’ll always be close. That’s what you want any time you get married.” They went on to welcome their daughter in January of 2023, which confirmed her other premonition from their early dating days. 

The duo recently celebrated their eighth wedding anniversary in February of 2023. To commemorate seven years of marriage, the actress posted a series of throwback photos from their wedding day on Instagram. “7 years ago today,” her caption said. “@isitmeurlooking4 you got lucky and got to marry me 😬😁😅 I love you forever.” The Australian stuntman also uploaded a wedding photo for the milestone. “7 years of RAD luck,” he wrote in his post. “I love you to the moon & back. 7,000 more years please.”