The Strict Rule Priscilla Presley Always Had To Follow When She Was Married To Elvis
Priscilla and Elvis Presley's relationship was mired in controversy. For starters, Elvis and Priscilla started seeing each other when she was 14 and he 24 after meeting in West Germany during his Army years. Priscilla's parents disapproved of the relationship but could do little about it. "We tried to make them believe that it was proper and platonic, and they wanted to believe me ... In retrospect, I don't think anything could have stopped me from seeing Elvis," she wrote in a 1985 essay for People.
Priscilla's mother quickly changed her mind, and worked hard to convince her husband to do the same. "My mother felt that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," she told Ladies Home Journal in 1973 (via Elvis Australia). The relationship only got more complicated from there. Elvis was reportedly miserable at the prospect of marrying Priscilla. Priscilla wasn't dying to get hitched, either. "We were perfectly content the way we were, at that time it wasn't nice for people to live together," she said.
But they did it anyway on May 1, 1967, reportedly under pressure from Elvis' manager. "There was a morals clause in his contract with the studios," biographer Alma Nash said (via Express). Exactly nine months later, Elvis and Priscilla welcomed Lisa Marie Presley, their only child. Getting married and starting a family did nothing to make their relationship more mainstream. Over the years, Priscilla has opened up about living with one of history's most iconic cultural symbols, revealing some rather disturbing behavior.
Elvis made Priscilla wear makeup all the time
Elvis Presley expected Priscilla Presley to always look perfect. "Some can't have the truth," she said on ITV's "Loose Women" in 2016 (via Entertainment Tonight). "I always had a little bit of makeup. He never wanted to see me getting dressed, he wanted to see the end result." In the aftermath of their divorce in 1973, Priscilla came to believe Elvis wanted to transform her into an ideal. "Something in his Southern upbringing had taught him that the 'right' girl was to be saved for marriage. I was that girl," she said of the Mississippi native in her People essay.
According to Priscilla, he tried to accomplish that by controlling her persona. "He molded me into his woman. I wore the clothes, hairstyle and makeup of his careful choosing." It was through Elvis' interventions that Priscilla ended up with her signature bouffant — even though she liked wearing her long hair down. "There's nothing wrong with it, honey," she said he'd answered when she questioned the need to call in a hairdresser during a trip. "It's just that this is Las Vegas. Everyone has their hair done."
The same process resulted in Priscilla's famous winged eyeliner. "You need to apply more makeup around your eyes — make them stand out more," Priscilla described. "They're too plain naturally." It took Priscilla years to understand the toll it took on her identity. "I realized that I don't know who I am," she said on "Loose Woman."
Some say Elvis Presley was trying to revive his mother
Elvis Presley had mommy issues, some biographers believe. Gladys Presley died in her early 40s from a heart attack in 1958, when Elvis was in the Army, according to Best Classic Bands. Up until that point, Gladys and Elvis — an only child following the stillbirth of his twin brother — had a deep bond. "She was the number-one girl in his life, and he was dedicating his career to her," the Memphis Press Scimitar wrote after an interview with the performer (via 9Honey).
His mother's passing coincided with when he met Priscilla in Europe, leading some to contend that he'd tried to transform her into Gladys. "Elvis was always looking for that young girl he could mold into the image of Gladys," biographer Alma Nash contended (via Express). And that's why he was so intent upon controlling how Priscilla looked. "In a way, he dressed young women to resemble her," Nash argued. "He picked out their clothes. Priscilla was perfect."
Even Priscilla picked up on that. "I was to learn that Elvis's mother, Gladys, was the love of his life," she wrote in her 1985 memoir "Elvis and Me." Biographer Eric Wolfson argued in "Elvis Presley's From Elvis in Memphis" that Elvis didn't know how to separate his relationship with Priscilla from his relationship with his mother. "Priscilla may have captured Elvis's heart (at least for a period), but when it came to Gladys, she never had a chance," he wrote.