PRISCILLA PRESLEY could have been a Kardashian – as Kim K’s dad wanted her to be his wife.
In an explosive new memoir, the only woman ever to call the King of Rock ’n’ Roll her husband reveals the highs and lows of finding love after divorcing in 1973.
Priscilla relaxing at her California home in 1975
Priscilla marrying Elvis in Las Vegas, 1967
Robert Kardashian with Priscilla in 1976
She had started handsome lawyer Robert Kardashian in 1975, two years after her to the music legend ended.
But she never told Elvis she was sleeping with the other man, after realising he had a suspicious mind and always carried a loaded gun.
romance with Robert played out long before he became father to reality star Kim or her siblings Khloe, Kourtney and Rob.
In her autobiography, titled Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis, Priscilla reveals: “Robert was a sweet man and I liked him.
“Robert wanted to get married, but I knew it wouldn’t work. I wasn’t ready to marry again.”
‘Spirit wasn’t there’
Revealing how she never truly got over her ex-husband, Priscilla, now 80, says: “I mean, I was very much in love with Elvis, very much.
“I am still very much in love with him. I didn’t leave him because I didn’t love him; I just couldn’t live the life.”
For Priscilla, who met Elvis while he was in the army, stationed in Germany, their was the only thing that made more news than their relationship.
And after the Heartbreak Hotel singer died aged 42 in 1977, his huge shadow loomed over everyone that Priscilla dated.
She recalls how once called her at 2am, while she was in bed with Robert, leaving her fearing he would find out about them.
But Priscilla also admits to cheating on Robert because she was “a little bored with the relationship”, which lasted for a year.
Robert, who died in 2003 aged 59, was not the only man who failed to win her over.
Among a long line of wannabe lovers was Spanish lothario Julio Iglesias, who Priscilla claims invited her up to his room after they went to a nightclub in .
She admits to being “very tempted”.
But she declined the invitation because, at the time, she was in a long-term relationship with actor Michael Edwards and feared that Julio was too much like Elvis.
She writes: “Julio was surprised. I don’t think he was used to being turned down.”
That puts to bed long-standing rumours the 82-year-old singer and the actress had in fact been a couple.
Priscilla with Michael Edwards in 1983
Marco Garibaldi, who Priscilla split with in 2006
Priscilla, her daughter Lisa Marie and granddaughter Riley in 2015
Priscilla also denies reports that she dated American Idol’s British producer Nigel Lythgoe, 76, but says: “He has been a good friend and companion over the years.”
But there are plenty of accounts of doomed .
There was hairdresser Elie Ezerzer, who she claims would jealously check up on her, and Edwards — who walked into a crowded restaurant with just a napkin covering his private parts.
Forming healthy relationships had been tough for Priscilla because her first one had been so toxic.
She started dating Elvis in 1959, when she was just 14, although she insists they did not have full sexual intercourse until she was 21.
The singer was very controlling, telling his young wife how to dress, who to meet and how to cut her .
And as the chart-topping hero behind hits such as Blue Suede Shoes and Jailhouse Rock, Elvis was not short of other women to pick from if she failed to fulfil his wishes.
I no longer have the desire to fall in love with someone. I have kept my independence. It was hard-earned.
Priscilla Presley
Her fear that he was sleeping with some of his young fans appeared to be confirmed by one of the letters they sent to him.
She recalls: “One letter to Elvis was signed Lizard Tongue. The graphic image was jarring.”
Given her experiences with men, it perhaps is not surprising that Priscilla has given up on long-term relationships.
Since splitting in 2006 from Brazilian screenwriter Marco Garibaldi, with whom she has a son Navarone, 38, there has not been a serious romance.
Priscilla writes: “I no longer have the desire to fall in love with someone. I have kept my independence. It was hard-earned.”
In the past few years, there has been more than enough unbearable stress and strife to make any relationship difficult.
Right now, the grandmother finds herself embroiled in yet another bitter legal battle.
Last month, lawyers for former partners Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko made the astonishing claim Priscilla “pulled the plug” on her daughter Lisa Marie’s life support in January 2023 for financial gain.
In legal documents, the pair, who are suing Elvis’s widow for £37million, allege that Priscilla “knew that Lisa was in the process of taking steps to remove her as the sole trustee of Lisa’s irrevocable life insurance trust”.
Julio Iglesias who was ‘surprised’ to be turned down
Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis, by Priscilla Presley, is out now
Priscilla’s lawyer hit back immediately, calling such suggestions “shameful, ridiculous”.
And in Softly, As I Leave You, which is in book shops now, Lisa Marie’s grieving mum gets to put forward her own account of traumatic events.
On January 10, 2023, a pale-looking Lisa Marie told Priscilla that her stomach really hurt.
Priscilla recounts, “I didn’t know it was the last hug” when they departed, or that when they spoke on the phone that night, “it was the last time I’d hear her voice”.
Two days later, Lisa Marie was taken to West Hills hospital in after suffering a cardiac arrest.
The paramedics had managed to get her heart started again, but Priscilla says that when she arrived at hospital, “there was little brain activity. Her spirit, always so vital, wasn’t there”.
With Lisa Marie’s daughter, , on her way, it was left to Priscilla to decide whether to keep her alive artificially when her heart had to be restarted again.
The doctor told her that her daughter would have “no quality of life at all” on life support.
She writes: “I thought about my girl, my wild, rebellious, passionate girl, lying in a vegetative state for the rest of her life.”
There are black limos parked outside my house and following me around. This is real. This is what they do.
Lisa Marie
In that terrible moment, Priscilla decided to tell the doctor to switch off the machine. It was all too much for the mum, who fainted as she walked away.
The death of Elvis’s only child at the age of 54 shocked the world.
Many thought that Lisa Marie had died as a result of her long struggle with drug abuse, but in fact it was due to a bowel obstruction following weight-loss surgery.
She left behind three children, The Runaways actress Riley, 36, as well as 16-year-old twins Harper and Finley.
Anyone who reads the book will come away with the impression that the relationship between Lisa Marie and Priscilla was a tumultuous one.
She paints a young Lisa Marie as a spoiled brat who told staff that they would be sacked if they did not do what she requested — and was given endless, expensive presents, such as a diamond ring, by her dad.
Priscilla describes Lisa as “easily bored” and “drawn to bad-boy types”.
The protective mum admits following her teenage daughter to make sure she had not lied about where she was going, and to assessing boyfriends she brought home.
Priscilla also talks about introducing her daughter to the celebrity obsessed cult.
The big fallout
Later in life, Lisa Marie would shun the dubious after hearing allegations fellow members were kept in prison-like conditions.
Elvis’s daughter had the guts to confront Scientology’s leader, David Miscavige, in .
Priscilla recalls Lisa Marie telling her: “Mom, I’m so scared.
“I gave it to David, and now they’re following me. There are black limos parked outside my house and following me around. This is real. This is what they do.”
The big fallout between mother and daughter came when Priscilla claims she refused to sign legal papers saying that Lisa Marie’s final husband, Michael Lockwood, was a bad father.
Priscilla had got on well with Michael, 64, and did not want to perjure herself.
Lisa Marie had been desperate to get custody of her twins, who she had with Michael. It led, for a time, to her being estranged from her mum, but they later reconciled.
The love that Priscilla had for her daughter comes through in many pages. She describes Lisa Marie as “sweet, tenderhearted, and loyal. And she was funny”.
Priscilla is only complimentary about Riley, despite reports there had been a feud between the pair over Lisa Marie’s inheritance.
She writes: “My oldest granddaughter has always been a force to be reckoned with.”
In June 2023, an agreement was reached in which Priscilla received an £800,000 sum and Riley was named the sole trustee for Lisa Marie’s estate.
Both have a desire to maintain Elvis’s legacy and his home, Graceland.
And they also share the grief of losing Lisa Marie.
That impact is reflected in the final chapter of the memoir, where Priscilla writes: “Every morning, I wake up and realise that a big part of me is gone for ever.”
- Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis, by Priscilla Presley, is out now, and published by Headline.
