Inside Elvis And Priscilla Presley's Relationship

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Popularly dubbed the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley was as mysterious as a star as they come. He charmed his way into the hearts of Americans and the rest of the world by bringing songs to life in a way only he could. Elvis' sexualized on-stage approach kept the masses wanting more. A 2007 article by Forbes estimates that Presley's estate continues to generate revenue of $40 million annually. Posthumously, Presley lives vividly in the minds of his fans, so much that the "Ultimate Elvis Experience" is a selling point for a hotel in Memphis where the singer grew up, per Forbes.

While the public experienced Elvis as an icon, a myth who was held in high regard and worthy of a Presidential Medal of Freedom (via Rolling Stone), those around him saw a more human side. No one's account of life with Elvis is as intense and passionate as that of Priscilla Presley, who shared 14 years with him. In an interview with Good Morning Britain, she said of his struggles, "Even when he was younger, Elvis was a thinker. He was a searcher. He was alone, in that, there was no one really when he was younger that could even compare to him ... It was always a little bit of sadness in them. In the whole family." From the moment they met, Elvis saw something in Priscilla that piqued his interest, leading to a whirlwind of a love story.

The cloud looming over Priscilla and Elvis Presley's romance was the pair's big age gap. At the time of their meeting, Elvis was 24 years old, while she was ten years younger. "Why would somebody like him be interested in seeing a 14-year-old again? What was the reason?" Priscilla's parents queried during an interview with "Biography." When she'd first brought up the idea of meeting Elvis, Priscilla's mother, in particular, couldn't fathom the possibility. "I wouldn't let you walk across the street to see Elvis Presley," she'd insisted, per Ladies Home Journal.

Priscilla's demands on forging a relationship with the "Easy Come, Easy Go" actor weren't welcome, but her parents kept an open mind. They would only let the pair go forward if they were given a chance to vet him in person. Upon meeting, her mother's views on Elvis changed. "He was such a gentleman," she confessed. "That evening he was so respectful. And he was respectful to my husband ... I was impressed," Anna Lillian Iversen said of the Rock and Roll legend (via "Biography"). Elvis was a darling, not only to Priscilla, but to her family at large. "He came to the house and he was charming. He was wonderful and my family had a lot of faith in him," Priscilla disclosed in a sit-down with Barbara Walters.

Since Elvis was away for the better part of her four-year stay in Memphis, Priscilla stayed with his father, Vernon, Vernon's wife, Dee, and their sons. He'd make up for being absent through gifting. "It was difficult for Elvis to buy for me, and a lot times he would just tell me to get what I wanted, which I liked. He gave me all of the cars that I have had," she divulged, per Ladies Home Journal. Her car collection through the years included a Corvair, a Chevrolet, a Toronado, an Eldorado, and, the cherry on the cake, a Mercedes. To woo his woman further, Elvis would rent an entire theater to catch up with good old action movies.

His life was fast-paced — and it had a darker side to it. Elvis popped pills, and it was a matter of time before Priscilla got caught in the murk. "He was used to taking two and it didn't bother him. He gave [pills] to me, and I was knocked out for about two days," Priscilla told Barbara Walters. According to Joan Kardashian, another friend of Priscilla's, per "Biography," the Elvis Presley lifestyle involved countless parties and late nights, especially when in Las Vegas.

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While Priscilla Presley was engulfed in Elvis' world, she barely had time to create her own. He brought the bacon home and sometimes could barely make it on time to celebrate an anniversary or two. "For Elvis to come home from a trip and leave again was routine. At first, I wanted to go along and it was difficult for me to understand why I couldn't," she disclosed, per Ladies Home Journal.

She sought other ways to keep herself engaged while Elvis Presley was away. Having studied ballet before, she enrolled in classes with an old acquaintance, Maylee Kaplan. She "danced and worked out every day and did a couple of recitals with them." Elvis had no problem with her pursuits, including a makeup class, as long as she was happy.

Of a rumor that she had thought of becoming an actress, Priscilla told Ladies Home Journal, "It's untrue that we argued about it or about my becoming an actress." She did get offers but wasn't keen on living a life without privacy. "I saw how Elvis had to be. I mean, so publicized. I could live my life and do what I wanted, but it was not possible for Elvis to do this. It was a shame."

A little over a decade since their first meeting, the couple's only child, Lisa Marie Presley, was born. Speaking to Ladies Home Journal in a tell-all interview post her divorce from the "All Shook Up" singer in 1973, Priscilla Presley said she and Elvis were over the moon when their daughter was born. On finding a name, they had already made a choice. "If the baby had been a boy, we were going to name him John Barron. I liked the name Barron. It has a very strong feeling to it. But when it was a girl, we decided on Lisa Marie–for no special reason, only because it is a very feminine name."

On CBS's "The Talk" Lisa Marie Presley went into detail on what it was like to grow up in Graceland. "I remember lots of conversations. I mean, you know, he and I spent a lot of time together. Upstairs upper part of Graceland is basically his room and my room, so we spent a lot of time together," she said. Elvis would set up a chair in her room and watch TV. He spent most of his time in his daughter's room.

When Christmas came around, there was a change of mood when Lisa stepped into the picture. "To have a child celebrating Christmas with you, you just wanna shower them with gifts and that's exactly what we did," Priscilla told NPR's "World Cafe."

Affairs in the Elvis-Priscilla Presley household were not one-sided. In her book "Elvis and Me," Priscilla let it be known that, in a bid to get Elvis' approval, she took up karate. Priscilla would build a friendship with her trainer, Mike Stone, as reported by Express. Stone, who was also a bodyguard, was charismatic to a degree, sometimes outshining the icon he was assigned to protect. "Several years earlier, we had watched Stone at a tournament in Hawaii and we'd admired his fighting technique," Priscilla wrote of their first encounter. The relationship eventually became an affair.

According to Stone's interview with "Elvis: The Ultimate Fan Channel," he wasn't a homewrecker. "You cannot steal another person. I cannot steal anybody's wife. Or Priscilla, if you wanna turn it around, did not steal me from my family," he claimed.

 Unlike most people who've been affiliated with celebrities in one way or another, Stone wasn't focused on profiting from his relationship with Priscilla. As such, he declined an offer to write a tell-all book of his own. "Many years just after Elvis had passed away, I was approached by Random House, are you familiar with the publication? Random House contacted me, that they wanted me to do a book on my relationship with Priscilla."

In 1977, the King of Rock and Roll died at the age of 42. The cause of his death was heart disease. Graceland, a place that bore memories for both him, Priscilla Presley, and their daughter, became his final resting place. Speaking to Today back in 2012, Priscilla recounted her thoughts upon learning of Elvis' death: "I'll never forget that day. I walked outside and I just said, 'My God! Something is not right.' And, Lisa was in Memphis at the time and I first thought of her."

Following Elvis' death, his name became a cash cow for opportunists. Records, t-shirts, souvenirs, you name it. All over America, someone somewhere was cashing in cheques using Elvis' name. This did not sit well with Priscilla. " It hurts. I knew it would happen. I could see it coming. The day that he died, you know, was just the beginning," she said in an interview with Rona Barrett.

At the time of Elvis' passing, he had moved on and was engaged to Ginger Alden. Since then, Priscilla Presley has been in charge of Elvis' estate. She had to go head to head with Ginger, who sued the estate for $40,000, with claims that Elvis had promised to pay the amount in mortgage before he died, per Eyewitness News.