The Rampant Tom Jones And Priscilla Presley Romance Rumors, Explained

Both Tom Jones and Priscilla Presley are music industry icons, he as a legendary musician, and she as the former wife of the late King of Rock 'n' Roll, so when the two of them were spotted hanging out a year after Tom's beloved wife passed away, it's no surprise the rumor mill began doing its thing. However, it seems the two really are just good friends. 

The romance rumors surrounding Tom and Priscilla began in early February 2017. It was just under a year after his longtime wife, Linda Jones, had passed away, and with Priscilla having lost her own ex-husband, Elvis Presley, so many decades prior, many believed that the two were an ideal match when they were seen out together in London. More than being seen together, though, an anonymous source began making bold claims about the nature of their relationship to the press. "Tom and Priscilla are courting. There is a spark between them but they are taking it slowly. It really is early days but they get on so well," the insider told The Sun. Of course, Tom was asked about it, and it's not clear if he'd stressed the word "friends" in his response, or whether he was intentionally vague about his relationship with Priscilla. Either way, he told The Sun, "We have been friends for a long time. She's a lovely lady. We do enjoy our nights out together."

Unfortunately for those who got all shook up about the possibility that Priscilla was Tom's, ahem, sex bomb, a spokesperson for him shot down the rumors soon after. Speaking to People, the rep explained, "Priscilla Presley and Tom have known each other for many, many years. ... They are part of a wider social group that occasionally meet up for an evening out. There is no more to the story than that." Ah, well. 

It's possible Tom Jones didn't outright refute the claims that he and Priscilla Presley were dating because he didn't take them all that seriously from the start. Roughly a month after the story broke, he told the Daily Star, "As long as it's nothing hurtful and there aren't any lies floating about, I don't mind. ... If it's something derogatory then I've got to sort that out. But if it's just speculation or it's harmless then I don't see any problem with it" (via Express). 

Evidently, Jones being in Priscilla's inner circle meant she wasn't all that bothered about the claims either. During an appearance on "Good Morning Britain" in July 2017, she laughed off the rumors when asked about them, lumping them in with the speculation that she'd dated any of her male friends after splitting from Elvis Presley. As for Jones in particular, she reiterated that they had been in each other's lives for decades. "Tom and I have been friends since '68, it is true. That's not the first time we've been out, obviously, but probably the first outing in public," she said of the sudden public interest. Even so, she shared that the reason she was spotted with him in London was "to support him." "He lost his wife ... that was the love of his life," she said sympathetically. Given Priscilla's own devastating experience of losing Elvis, we have no doubts she had some sage words of advice. 

Even with the denials, the rumor that Priscilla and Jones are together has persisted, and in June 2025, she joked about having seen that they were married in a Facebook post. "I must have slept through it!" she quipped in a caption of the two of them edited into tropical wedding pics. Well, we'll always have the edits.