An affair-plagued marriage, the tragic death of her grandson, and the never-ending onslaught
of tabloid news. Here are some tragic details in the life of Priscilla Presley.
Priscilla Presley experienced the downside of being a celebrity's wife early on in her
relationship with Elvis Presley. The world had its eyes on the then-newlyweds, and it
seemed that Priscilla was overwhelmed by all of the outside opinions. At an event for her book,
"Elvis and Me," she explained that Elvis' manager, Colonel Tom Parker, didn't want Elvis to have a
steady girlfriend. As a result, the couple tried to keep their relationship out of the public eye.
Unfortunately for Parker, Priscilla and Elvis were not able to keep their love a secret for long.
Tabloids couldn't get enough of this famous couple, which
made things stressful for Priscilla in the early days of her marriage.
At the Graceland exhibit at the Bendigo Art Gallery, she revealed,
"The beginning [of the marriage] was very difficult, but I knew what I was in for
because I saw it at a very young age."
The media was so ruthless that Priscilla avoided newspapers and
magazines when she went grocery shopping, saying,
"I found out how vicious people could be [...] there were rumors I was pregnant,
and that's why he got married, and I'm going, 'Oh my God, this is not gonna be good for me.'"
Elvis and Priscilla's uncomfortable age gap made for a questionable relationship dynamic.
At the start of their relationship, Elvis was 24 years old while Priscilla was only 14. To make
matters worse, Elvis was reportedly fond of the teenager's youth. As told in "Sergeant Presley:
Our Untold Story of Elvis' Missing Years," Elvis supposedly told his friend, author Rex Mansfield,
that Presley thought she was young enough that he could, quote, "train her any way I want."
Priscilla opened up about the relationship in a piece she wrote for People in 1985. She shared,
"Something in his Southern upbringing had taught him that the 'right' girl
was to be saved for marriage. I was that girl. At the same time,
he molded me into his woman. I wore the clothes, hairstyle and makeup of his careful choosing."
On ITV's "Loose Women," Priscilla explained that Elvis' world took over every aspect of hers.
"I didn't have my teenage years as a normal girl, obviously, so I had to, I had to adapt."
She would go on to say,
"I just kind of followed what he did. I mean, you lived his life. You saw the movies he wanted to
see. You listened to the music he listened to, you'd go to places that he would go."
Although Priscilla often speaks fondly of Elvis,
it appears that the couple's relationship wasn't the healthiest from the beginning.
Priscilla Presley had a close relationship with her stepfather, Paul Beaulieu. For years,
Presley believed that Beaulieu was her biological father because he raised her as his own, alongside
her mother. The actor revealed in her memoir, "Elvis and Me," that she uncovered the identity
of her biological father while looking through a box of her family's belongings, revealing that,
"...inside the box was a picture of my mother with her arm around a strange man and,
sitting on her lap, an infant. On the back of the photo was inscribed, 'Mommy, Daddy, Priscilla.'"
Her mother admitted that Priscilla's birth father, Lieutenant James Wagner,
had died in a plane crash when she was only six months old.
Priscilla opened up about her mother's reaction to
the discovery in a piece she wrote for People. She wrote,
"Mother suggested — so as not to endanger our family closeness — that I keep my discovery
from the younger children [...] I respected her wishes. Years later, in a delicate discussion,
it was brought up at a family gathering. It brought us all closer together."
Elvis and Priscilla's relationship was far from perfect. It turns out that the musician
did not remain loyal to his wife after she gave birth. Priscilla opened up about how
her marriage took a turn for the worse after pregnancy in her memoir, writing,
"[Elvis] had mentioned to me before we were married
that he had never been able to make love to a woman who'd had a child."
He held to this rule for some time after Lisa Marie Presley
was born. Priscilla wrote in a diary entry during this difficult period:
"I am beginning to doubt my own sexuality as a woman. My
physical and emotional needs were unfulfilled."
It appears Elvis did lose attraction to his wife after she endured childbirth. He went
on to cheat throughout the relationship. On Australia's 7News, Priscilla recalled,
"You know, he wasn't faithful. [...] I tried to turn my back to that, but I just didn't want to
share him. Simple as that. As much as he wanted to be married and have a family, I don't know if he
was ever cut to be married. Because I don't think he could ever, ever be faithful to one woman."
Elvis reportedly began his relationship with actor Ann-Margret
after the two met on the set of "Viva Las Vegas" in 1963.
This was before he married Priscilla but presumably while he was already dating her.
It seems that Elvis' controlling nature was too much for Priscilla, and she eventually
reached a breaking point. In an interview with "Loose Women" on ITV, the businesswoman admitted
that she lost herself in the relationship. However, she had no hard feelings toward Elvis.
"I did not divorce him because I didn't love him. He was the love of my life, truly."
According to Priscilla, her reasons for leaving were much different, saying,
"If anything, I left because — and I still
loved him — I needed to find out what the world was like, really."
In 1972, Priscilla and karate instructor Mike Stone had an affair. This relationship
may also have been a factor in Elvis and Priscilla's divorce.
It seemed that Priscilla didn't have the same struggles in her new romance.
She revealed to Ladies' Home Journal that Stone's schedule wasn't as demanding as her ex-husband's.
Although Elvis and Priscilla had their ups and downs,
their love for each other was apparent. Priscilla spoke about her feelings for
her late ex-husband in an interview for The Sydney Morning Herald. She admitted,
"I love him. I still love him. I've never not loved him. Ever. People will say,
'Well if you didn't stop loving him why did you divorce him?' It wasn't really him,
it was the lifestyle. The lifestyle was very difficult. And I think people just don't get it."
Elvis' death impacted Priscilla deeply. She recalled the heartbreaking moment when she
learned of Elvis' passing during an interview with Entertainment Tonight. The actor traveled
to Elvis' location, where he was found unresponsive in his home. She recalled,
"They sent a jet to come, and going into that house and hearing all the people — especially
his father, who I will, to this day, still remember him crying in such grief,
howling — that it still resonates the loss and the impact."
It appears that Priscilla is still grieving Elvis' passing decades later. She opened up about the
tragedy during the 40th anniversary of the star's death. She told Entertainment Tonight that it was,
"A devastating time for myself and of course, the world, to hear the news,
and it's still unbelievable because he's so much a part of our lives — my life
and my daughter's life and everyone around him."
Elvis Presley's death left Priscilla in a stress-inducing financial situation.
You may think Priscilla inherited the musician's wealth, but it turns out she took on Elvis'
multi-million dollar debt following his passing. The federal government added an
inheritance tax of $10 million to Elvis' estate. Elvis departed with $5 million in his account,
but this money allegedly had to be split between the singer's original executor,
father Vernon Presley, and his ex-wife Priscilla. Unfortunately, music royalties
didn't help Priscilla out much either, because they primarily went to the RCA record label.
As a result, Priscilla had to figure out how to get herself out of debt. This
influenced the business-savvy mom to turn Elvis Presley's estate, Graceland,
into a money-making tourist attraction, all while preserving the star's legacy.
She went on to co-found Elvis Presley Enterprises. It looks like Priscilla
managed to solve her financial hardships, as she's worth approximately $50 million today.
Priscilla was left to raise daughter Lisa Marie alone after Elvis' unexpected death. Of course,
Elvis' death made things more difficult for the grieving parent, but things weren't exactly
perfect when he was still around. In an interview with The Guardian, Priscilla revealed that the
superstar wasn't the most involved father. She admitted that she could never tame her
husband and ultimately came to accept that. It seems that as a result, Priscilla stepped
up to compensate for Elvis' occasional absence by truly focusing on raising their daughter.
"It takes two in a relationship. Having a child.
Not being able to do the traveling. I was a mother."
After Elvis' death, Priscilla and Lisa Marie had moments of conflict. When Lisa
Marie decided to marry Michael Jackson, Priscilla made it clear that she didn't
approve of the relationship. Priscilla didn't want her daughter to repeat her mistakes, and
she didn't take a gentle approach in letting Lisa Marie know how she felt. She told the Guardian,
"As her mom, though, I was concerned as I could see it could be a disaster. At that point,
the right thing to do would have been to bite my tongue, but I didn't bite my tongue."
Priscilla's involvement with the Church of Scientology may have also caused tension
in her relationship with Lisa Marie. Page Six reported that she may have bequeathed a portion
of Elvis' estate to the controversial church. Lisa Marie parted ways with Scientology in 2014,
despite her mother's supposed devotion to the religion.
Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis and Priscilla Presley's daughter, lost her son when he died by suicide in
July 2020. Benjamin Keough was only 27 years old when he passed away. Keough's tragic death
hit Priscilla hard. She shared an emotional message on Facebook following his passing:
"These are some of the darkest days of my family's life. The shock of losing Ben
has been devastating. Each day I wake up I pray it will get better. Then,
I think of my daughter and the pain she is going through as she was a doting mother.
Ben's father, Danny, who is completely lost, as Ben was his only son."
Lisa Marie took a long break away from social media following her son's passing,
so it seems that Priscilla stepped up to issue this statement in her absence.
Lisa Marie returned to Instagram in 2022 to address concerned fans and
to show her support for director Baz Luhrmann's "ELVIS." The caption read,
"I haven't posted in quite some time because there really isn't much to say,
as I am and will forever be mourning the loss of my son. Navigating through this hideous grief that
absolutely destroyed and shattered my heart and my soul into almost nothing has swallowed me whole."
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts,
please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.