Priscilla Presley’s marriage to the late Elvis Presley has made headlines throughout the years — especially when it comes to their significant age gap.
Priscilla met Elvis in Germany when he was on a tour of duty for the United States Army. The two instantly had a connection, but Priscilla’s family was wary about the relationship due to Priscilla only being 14 at the time.
“My parents were really beside themselves,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in August 2023. “I basically threatened them and told them, ‘If you don’t let me go [marry him], I’ll find my way.’”
After eight years of dating, the duo tied the knot in May 1967 in Las Vegas and welcomed daughter Lisa Marie less than one year later.
The pair were married for six years before they divorced in 1973. Despite their split, they managed to remain friends and amicable coparents up until Elvis’ death in August 1977.
“It was so devastating that I just went to my room and tried to contemplate how this happened, and what happened, and just stayed there until they sent a plane for me,” Priscilla explained to Entertainment Tonight in August 2017.
Keep scrolling to see everything Priscilla has said about her marriage to Elvis:
The Impact He Had On Her Life
“You have to remember, he was such an impact in my life in every way,” Priscilla told ET in August 2017. “He was my mentor, he was my confidant. I wrote this in my book [Elvis and Me]. He was everything. In my book I wrote, ‘My God,’ because I lived and breathed him.”
The Reason For the Divorce
“I just kind of followed what he did. You lived his life,” Priscilla explained during an appearance on the U.K.’s Loose Woman talk show in November 2019. “You saw the movies he wanted to see, you listened to the music he listened to, you’d go to places he would go. So you really kind of lost yourself. … I did not divorce him because I didn’t love him — he was the love of my life, truly. If anything, I left because I needed to find out what the world was like.”
How Priscilla Cared for Him
“I was always ready to greet him at the door and pamper him,” Priscilla shared with People in September 2021. “I loved taking care of Elvis very much. I loved tending to him. I loved feeding him.”
The Challenges They Faced
“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,” Priscilla told the Daily Mail in March 2022. “That’s when I started not reading papers anymore or [magazines] in the grocery stores.”
The Connection They Shared
At the Venice Film Festival press conference in September 2023, Priscilla shared more details about her and Elvis’ age gap. “People think, ‘Oh, it was sex.’ No, it wasn’t,” she explained. “I never had sex with him. He was very kind, very soft, very loving, but he also respected the fact I was only 14 years old. We were more in line in thought, and that was our relationship.”
She continued: “It was very difficult for my parents to understand that Elvis would be so interested in me and why. And I really do think because I was more of a listener. … That was really our connection.”
Why She Never Remarried
During a Q&A panel at the South Point Casino in Las Vegas in November 2023, Priscilla got candid about why she thought Elvis was the only man for her.
“To be honest with you, I never wanted to marry after him. I never had any desire,” she explained. “No one could ever match him.”
