Introduction:
Elvis Presley controlled everything about his ex-wife, including her dress, hair, and behavior, according to the film “Priscilla”.
The hidden corners of Elvis and Priscilla’s love story are revealed in the biographical drama Priscilla directed by Sophia Coppola, inspired by the memoir Elvis and Me. In a speech in Italy in September, Priscilla said she was moved when watching the work about her love and life.
Trailer “Priscilla”. Video:
From Priscilla’s perspective, during their 14 years together, they went through ups and downs, and Elvis hurt her many times.
In 1959, Priscilla met Elvis in West Germany, where her stepfather was a captain in the US Air Force. When he joined the army, Elvis was already a famous singer, and the two fell in love at a party. She liked his good looks and sense of humor, and felt safe and happy when they were together. Priscilla also praised Elvis as a kind and generous person: “Anyone who had financial difficulties, he would help them.”
Priscilla kept company with the singer, often listening to him confide his feelings. Through each meeting, the singer gradually revealed himself, his secrets and disappointments. That same year, Elvis visited Priscilla’s parents and said: “I like her very much, Priscilla has mature thinking. Please don’t worry, I will take good care of her.”
When Elvis was discharged from the army in 1960, the two kept in touch through letters. Two years later, he invited Priscilla to live with him in the United States. They asked Priscilla’s parents to let her stay at the singer’s Memphis mansion (Graceland), and her family reluctantly agreed. According to Priscilla, if her relatives had not done so, she would never have forgiven them. At first, she lived with her boyfriend’s step-parents but still spent the night at his mansion.
From then on, Priscilla said she became Elvis’s “doll.” The singer controlled everything, including the way she dressed, walked, wore makeup, did her hair, and behaved. “If I did something that didn’t please him, I had to change,” Priscilla wrote in her memoir.
When he bought gifts for his girlfriend, he only chose solid colors and no prints. He also did not want Priscilla to cut her hair, preferring her to wear heavy eye makeup and dye her hair black. The singer reminded his girlfriend not to create wrinkles on her forehead when she looked up. Elvis also did not let Priscilla work, saying her job was to make him happy.
Their sex life was also subject to Elvis’s will. Priscilla insists that they never had sex while she was a minor. She often took the initiative, wanting to go further, but the singer refused: “Let me decide when it will happen.” The first time they had sex was on their wedding night on May 1, 1967 – when she was 21 years old.
When his wife was pregnant in 1967, Elvis wanted to separate. In the last three months of pregnancy, the singer said he wanted to live alone to think. Two days later, he changed his mind. Priscilla wrote in her book: “I’m not sure that an unwanted pregnancy will affect our marriage. It’s worth believing that this is private time for both of us.”
After giving birth to Lisa Marie, she was disappointed that her husband no longer had sex with her. At the South Point Casino event in Las Vegas on October 3, Priscilla said the singer did not want to have more children because of her busy schedule, thinking that she did not have enough time to take care of the baby.
Elvis also had a short temper and was violent, which Priscilla believed was due to her husband’s abuse of sedatives. According to the memoir, the singer once threw a chair at his wife’s face, violently while they were playing, causing her to have a black eye and bruises on her arm. “When Elvis was angry, no one could resist his harsh words. I could only wait until my husband calmed down,” Priscilla wrote.
She was also hurt by her affair. Early in their relationship, Priscilla found strange letters from Elvis and actress Anita Wood. She was distraught and thought about suicide, feeling insecure because everyone around her was pursuing Elvis. In the book, she also admitted to having an affair with dance teacher and karate instructor Mike Stone.
Priscilla said: “Elvis became my father, my husband and almost my God. He made many mistakes but I still overlooked them until one day I couldn’t continue. I was blinded by love.”
Video: Priscilla Presley when they were in love.
She split from Elvis in 1972 – five years before the singer died of a sudden cardiac arrest. Priscilla decided that their lives were too different, that things would never change, not because she had fallen out of love. According to People, Priscilla still cherished the time she spent with Elvis. When she died, she wanted to be buried next to her ex-husband at Graceland. She said she would not marry anyone else after her relationship with Elvis because no one could be as special as him.
Priscilla was pleased with the film’s content based on her memoir, but Elvis’ daughter – Lisa Marie – once said that director Sofia Coppola tarnished her father’s image. Today, February 11, Variety published some parts of the email exchange between Lisa Marie and the director, a few weeks before the film went on sale in September 2022. “In the script, my father is seen as a predator. As his only daughter, I don’t see my father’s appearance in the objects. I don’t feel my mother’s perspective on my father. I think the director has a hateful and contemptuous view of Elvis but I don’t understand why?”, Lisa wrote.
Sofia once responded to Elvis’ daughter: “When you see the work on the big screen, I hope you understand that I was very concerned about honoring your mother, and at the same time I wanted to convey the sensitivity and complexity of Elvis.”
Priscilla Ann Presley, 78, is an American businesswoman and actress. She is the co-founder and former president of Elvis Presley Enterprises. Elvis was born in 1935 and is known as the “king of rock and roll”. He is famous for songs such as Can’t Help Falling in Love, Burning Love, You’re the Devil in Disguise, Suspicious Minds.