Can’t help falling in love. Priscilla Presley divorced Elvis Presley in 1973, but they stayed close until his death four years later — and she’s remained one of the most devoted protectors of his legacy.
The New York City native met the “Jailhouse Rock” singer in 1959 at age 14 while Elvis was serving in the U.S. Army in Germany. After the Blue Hawaii star moved back to the United States, the duo stayed in touch via phone before reuniting in person in 1962. One year later, Priscilla’s parents allowed her to move to Memphis so she could be closer to the “Hound Dog” crooner, and in 1966, Elvis proposed.
“One day he showed me the ring and simply asked me to marry him,” the Dallas alum recalled to Ladies Home Journal in 1972. “Even though we were perfectly content the way we were, at that time it wasn’t nice for people to live together.”
The couple tied the knot in May 1967 at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, welcoming daughter Lisa Marie exactly nine months after their wedding. Their marriage didn’t last, however, and in 1972, Priscilla decided to leave her husband. “I had to take responsibility for myself,” she explained during a 1985 interview with Barbara Walters, adding that she “found Priscilla” by leaving Elvis.
After their divorce was finalized in 1973, the pair remained close until Elvis died in 1977 at age 42. “You have to remember, he was such an impact in my life in every way,” Priscilla told Entertainment Tonight in 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.”
In 1984, the Dancing With the Stars alum met Marco Garibaldi, with whom she lived until 2006. The twosome welcomed son Navarone in March 1987. Like his late half-sister, Navarone joined the family business as a musician, though he has stayed somewhat out of the public eye.
“My son Navarone is his own person. He wants to do his own thing and I’m really proud of him,” Priscilla told The Guardian in November 2012. “He doesn’t want to step into the spotlight, and he’s always been that way. He’s not riding on Elvis and he’s not riding on Lisa. We have never been, ‘Elvis this, Elvis that,’ to our children because otherwise, you’re building up something that is almost unreachable for them.”
Keep scrolling for a look back at Priscilla’s complete dating history:
