Priscilla Presley Reflects on Elvis, Infidelity, and Their Marriage: “He Was Still a Good Husband, But There Were Just Too Many of Us.”
Priscilla and Elvis said “I do” in 1967 and parted in ’73, but their connection remains a topic of love and discussion.
In a recent interview on Today, the actress and entrepreneur—promoting her new book, Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis—shared how The King’s wandering heart shaped their years together. Even so, she insists he was “very, very special” in countless ways.
“Our life was very, very different, you know? Very, very different. When Elvis was in Vegas, he was really starting his return to the stage,” the now 80-year-old spoke gently.
She continued, “We had a home in Palm Springs, a second home, so I would go over to check on it—see the cleaners had done their work, check the mail, and make sure everything was ready before he flew home.” As she sorted through the letters in the Palm Springs mailbox, “I saw it was all girls. I disapproved of the messages.” Priscilla paused, remembering the hurt but with a steady voice: “It was the content I didn’t like.”
Priscilla added, “Elvis loved to fill the house. He’d fly in and bring so many friends. He’d come home so great and wonderful, and he was still the best husband he could be, but the house was always crowded and noisy. It was just too many of us living in our small world.”
Find Related Stories! Jon Bon Jovi Calls Being a First-Time Grandpa ‘Wonderful’ After Baby News.
Priscilla was only 14 in 1959 when she met Elvis in Germany, where he was serving in the army. The spark began online through letters, then in person when he was off-duty. They headed to Las Vegas in 1967 and the chapel wedding happened almost in a blur.
Life afterward was tense. Elvis had a full schedule and a fun entourage. Priscilla felt the weight of keeping him happy, so her own needs dropped to the bottom of the list. He spent nights in Vegas and Los Angeles with many “friends.” She turned to karate and met her teacher, Mike Stone. “My life was his life. He had to be happy. My problems were secondary. My needs became the walls I felt I was always banging against.”
By 1972 they agreed it was time to stop. The divorce followed a year later.
They had one daughter, Lisa Marie, in 1968. She followed her father’s footsteps into the spotlight and left us in 2023. Priscilla later had a son, Navarone, with businessman Marco Garibaldi.
“I didn’t divorce him because I didn’t love him—he was my one true love,” Priscilla recalled during her visit to the British talk show Loose Women. “In fact, I walked away because I had to see what the outside world felt like.”
Her memoir, Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis, is in stores now.
