Kriti Mehrotra
While Priscilla Presley needs no introduction, considering the world knows of her controversial marriage with the King of Rock & Roll, Elvis Presley, and her own standing as a public figure, she has recently been in the limelight a lot more. She has admittedly participated in most of the projects, chronicling her ex-husband’s tale, their relationship, or anything to do with his image since she is the co-founder of Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE). However, it is only in Netflix’s ‘Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley,’ that she discloses some details about their actual marriage from 1967 to 1973.
Priscilla Presley Did Become Romantically Involved With Elvis at Age 14
Although born on May 24, 1945, in Brooklyn, New York, as Priscilla Ann Wagner, Priscilla moved around a lot during her childhood owing to her father being an active Air Force officer. From Canada to Connecticut to New Mexico to Maine to Texas, she actually lived everywhere before her father was transferred to Wiesbaden, West Germany, in 1956, which crushed her. Little did she know, though, that she would meet Elvis there a mere three years later – on September 13, 1959, to be exact – while he was drafted into the army, only for them to click almost immediately.
According to reports, Elvis was a little awkward and shy when he and then 14-year-old Priscilla first talked at a party, but he was his charming, smooth self by the end of the night. Neither of them minded their 10-year age gap, but her parents definitely did and made that much clear after she returned home quite late the same night – they essentially forbade her to see him again. Yet, with promises of keeping track of time as well as assurances of his intentions, he managed to convince them to not just let them meet but also continue a relationship following his 1960 discharge.
Priscilla and Elvis Presley Had Several Highs and Lows
Following Elvis’ return to the US in 1960, Priscilla genuinely thought their romance had come to an end owing to rumors of his involvement with Nancy Sinatra and later Anita Wood. However, even as she tried dating boys her own age, he remained in contact with her through calls and letters and even assured her that she was still the one for him. Therefore, by the summer of 1962, they convinced their parents to let her visit him in the US for two weeks, which ultimately led to her relocation to his home state of Memphis in mid-March 1963- two months before her 18th birthday.
By this point, though, Priscilla had begun experimenting with amphetamines and sleeping pills to keep up with her boyfriend’s lifestyle and essentially even found a routine with them. Then, despite her parents’ wishes for them to have separate residences, she had moved into his 18-room mansion, Graceland, as early as May 1963, spending entire nights there even before with him and his Grandmother. Nevertheless, she has always vehemently maintained that they never took their relationship to the next level and got physical until their wedding night. She was happy to just live with him, but it wasn’t the norm back then, so they happily tied the knot at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas on May 1, 1967.
According to Priscilla’s own accounts, she became pregnant the same night, even though she was initially worried it would result in her losing her closeness with her new husband. That was not at all the case, at least not initially, as the couple welcomed their only child, Lisa Marie, on February 1, 1968, and continued to have a good life together, filled with love, passion, and compassion. But alas, both their infidelities, his secret liaisons with many of his co-stars, as well as her affairs with a dance teacher named Mark and a karate instructor named Mike Stone, made them realize they needed more. They hence divorced in 1973, yet remained friends – they even walked out of the courtroom hand in hand after it was finalized.
Priscilla Presley Has Led a Remarkably Multifaceted Life
While Priscilla was given enough money in her divorce settlement from Elvis that she could lead a comfortable life for years, she began working almost immediately as she wanted to prove her relationship with him was not just for finances. That’s especially because while the couple had initially agreed upon a settlement of $100,000 in a lump payment, $1,000 a month in spousal support, and $500 a month in child support, she walked away with $725,000 in cash, spousal support, child support, 5% of his new publishing companies, and half the proceeds from the sale of their Beverly Hills home.
Therefore, in 1973, Priscilla established a clothing boutique in Los Angeles called Bis & Beau alongside a friend, which her ex-husband also promoted in his inner circle and in the industry. This business was reportedly a massive success with several celebrity clients, too, yet it shut down in 1976, shortly before Elvis’ unfortunate and unexpected death in 1977. As per records, his father Vernon was one of the executors of his estate and he named Priscilla to be his successor upon his death, so she assumed the responsibility with full compassion in 1979.
In fact, Priscilla is the one who got the idea of turning Graceland into a tourist attraction to make up for all the money they had lost in its upkeep over the years, just for it to still be a success. As if that’s not enough, she even co-founded and became the chairperson as well as president of Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE), stating she would remain in the position until her and Elvis’ daughter Lisa Marie reached 21 years of age. Under her guidance, the enterprise’s success eventually resulted in the Elvis trust for his family to be worth over $100 million – but alas, Lisa passed away in 2023, leaving behind four children who are now Elvis’s successors.
As for Priscilla’s other endeavors, she has since launched several fragrances, released a line of bed linens called the Priscilla Presley Collection, helped produce several films and albums that related to her ex-husband, penned a memoir titled ‘Elvis and Me,’ done a lot of philanthropy work, all the while building a career as an actress. In fact, this Ambassador of the Dream Foundation, former Church of Scientology member, and animal rights activist has over 17 acting credits under her name as well as many producing credits, enabling her to shine. And now, she’s a public figure on social media, too.
Priscilla Presley Has Never Remarried, But She Has Dated a Few Men
According to reports, Priscilla moved in with her affair partner, Mike Stone, shortly following her divorce from Elvis, but they sadly broke up a mere two years later in 1975. She then reportedly got involved with photographer Terry O’Neill, lawyer Robert Kardashian, hairdresser Elie Ezerzer, financier Morgan Maxfield, and financier Kirk Kerkorian before having a long-term connection with model Michael Edwards. As per her biography, she was in a 6-year live-in relationship with him, but it ended terribly as he allegedly had feelings for her teen daughter.
According to records, Priscilla and Michael started dating in 1978 when Lisa was merely 10 years old and split when she was 16, and she later came forward to state he had molested her throughout these 6 years. But alas, no official report against him was ever made, so he has always remained a free man. The next chapter in Priscilla’s personal life revolved around Brazilian screenwriter-turned-computer-programmer Marco Garibaldi, with whom she not only lived for 22 years but also had a son named Navarone Garibaldi in 1987. They broke up in 2006, and she has reportedly continued dating ever since, but no one has struck her heart.
Priscilla Presley Has Recently Alleged Being a Target of Elder Abuse
It was in July 2024 that Priscilla filed a lawsuit alleging she had been a target of an “abhorrent” elder abuse scheme since 2023 and had even been conned out of more than $1 million. In her statement, she claimed that Florida-based memorabilia dealer Brigitte Kruse, investor Kevin Fialko, and Florida lawyer Lynn Walker Wright duped her into signing a stack of contracts in January 2023. As per her claims, these contracts gave her only minority shares in several companies controlling her name, image, and likeness, and then, they also allegedly isolated her from her long-time trusted advisors.
“[They] engaged in an extensive, far-reaching campaign to isolate me from, and cause me to distrust, my own long-time advisors, to the point where they were able to convince me to replace my advisors with ones hand-picked by them,” Priscilla stated, per court records. “This was an essential part of their campaign to control and direct my finances to their own benefit.” She actually even asserted they took advantage of her situation following her daughter’s sudden death in March 2023 from a heart attack as her financial situation had changed.
In fact, Priscilla actually filed her case in Los Angeles after Brigitte Kruse sued her for breach of contract in Florida last year. The latter claimed that she illegally walked out on their various business agreements when her financial circumstances changed, but the public figure contests that. We should also mention that lawyer Lynn Walker Wright has since “vehemently denied” conspiring with Brigitte and Kevin Fialko, but the case seems to be far from over. All we know is that hearings for Priscilla’s elder abuse lawsuit are currently ongoing, and the 79-year-old California resident seems to be focusing all her energies on that at the moment.
Read More: Was Colonel Tom Parker Responsible for Elvis’ Death?
