Are you lonesome tonight? Do you miss me tonight?
Are you? Sorry We Drifted apart Does your
welcome to the podcast. I am Mel and I'm Kel and
thinking we're cousins. We're cousins and best friends.
Sometimes starting the episode is the hardest.
I know. And I if there's new listeners,
I want them to know that we're cousins.
Yeah, I know. I think that that is so
endearing about the podcast. This is a family run podcast.
Yeah. It is family run business.
Yeah. Thank you for joining us.
So Kelly Kelly is really nervous
about this episode. I am so this is a big couple
flagship. It's a very famous flagship
couple, but it's also quite controversial.
This is Elvis Presley and Priscilla Bolio or Priscilla
Presley. Elvis and Priscilla, you know,
everybody knows them. Their big hair and her eye
makeup and everything. But if you know anything more
about them, you probably know that they met when Priscilla was
only 14 years old. And how old was he?
He was 24. Bad, that is.
So that's what we're dealing with today in a time.
I'm nervous because I don't want to romanticize that, but I also
don't want to be too serious and.
It's all about it. You know, I want us.
We we usually have a good time on this podcast.
So yeah, it is. I I don't know what line to walk
here. I know it's really tough because
also I feel like a lot of people do love them.
If you guys saw Elvis last summer and and we're recording
this I think a little bit before Priscilla came out, the movie
about her. But the Elvis movie, we know
that she's young in it, but they don't treat it like it's
something bad. I think the movie is very
sympathetic to Elvis. Obviously he's the hero
character in it, like the tragic hero, so.
Yes, it's interesting because like we do sometimes Goss over
things as a society and why? I'm not sure.
And then sometimes we then revisit things and then get
really focused on it. And this is obviously nowadays,
if someone was to be 24, dating a 14 year old, that's the child.
It's really bad. But I don't.
I don't know. Sometimes as a society we look
the other way and sometimes we come back and don't.
I don't know. It's weird.
Yeah, yeah, well, we'll get more into it.
But yeah, actually the the day after this episode is supposed
to air is when the Priscilla movie comes out.
Oh, great timing. I know, directed by Sofia
Coppola. And that wasn't really
intentional. I was thinking about what do I
want to do next? I want to do something kind of
classic, something kind of retro.
And I thought about them. And then I just looked up when
the movie was coming out and I was like, oh, perfect.
So yeah, that movie is definitely, I mean, it's called
Priscilla. It's based on Priscilla's memoir
Elvis and Me. So that's going to be way more
about her. I think that the Elvis movie
with Austin Butler. Really skimmed over it, so how
interesting. But yeah, bear with me, guys.
Don't judge me. And yeah, this is actually not
my first time researching Elvis, but it's my first time doing it
super in depth. I don't know if you did anything
like this in high school, Mel, but I think senior year, like
one of our last history projects, we all picked a person
and did like a big. Research project on them and had
to present to the class. And I actually chose Elvis.
And I remember that's when I learned that he dated a 14 year
old. And I was like, oh, I didn't
know that. Yeah, I was like so excited to
get up there and talk about Elvis.
I still had a good time, but yeah, that was shocking to me.
That's so young. That is crazy.
So did you do keep any of the same research that you got did
for that project or no? Is this all new?
No, no. I don't even know where all that
is. But it's fun to revisit.
I mean, I always liked Elvis growing up.
My dad's a big fan. Even when I was in elementary
school, I made a Valentine box that had like, Burn and Love and
Elvis lyrics on it. So what's your favorite?
Like a little bit of a fan Elvis song maybe?
Suspicious mind. I was going to say the same
thing. I love that one.
That's a good one. Maybe.
Aren't you lonesome tonight? Oh yes, he does a cover of our
theme song. Yeah, insert clip.
Are you lonesome? Tonight.
Do you miss me tonight? Are you sorry we drifted apart?
That was so exciting in the Elvis movie.
I know our most most Elvis songs are covers, right?
Like. Yeah, a lot of them are.
He actually did not write his songs.
He was. He was a performer, yeah.
Not a songwriter. Jailhouse Rock.
That's a good 1MM. Hmm.
You know who would love this episode?
Uncle Jesse. Yes, he would.
So yeah, it. Would be my teddy bear.
Well yeah, we have a big couple, so we should probably get into
it. 3 words I would use to describe Priscilla and Elvis are
intense. Mm hmm.
Unpredictable and confusing? Yes, not a good recipe.
No, no, no. My main sources for this, in
case anyone's curious, I listened to Priscilla's memoir
Elvis and Me, which was published in 1985.
I listened to the audio book and it wasn't that long.
I basically listened to it back and forth.
I was visiting my friend last weekend on long drive.
Does she narrate it so? Sweet.
She Yeah, she narrates it and her voice is so sweet.
She really sounds like Marilyn Monroe or Lana Del Rey or
something. She just has that voice and she
would do these, like, little laughs whenever she thought
something was funny. It was really cute.
That's cute. Also, I read a little bit of the
book Last Train to Memphis by Peter Gwarlnick to get more info
on Elvis. And elvispresleymusic.com and
then some other places. But yeah, Elvis.
I mean, you might think you know a lot about him, but I was
surprised by what I learned. He was born January 8th, 1935 in
East Tupelo, Ms. Elvis Aaron Presley.
His parents were Gladys and Vernon and he actually had a
twin brother when he was born. Jesse Garin Presley.
But sadly, he was born stillborn.
I know. So sad.
Elvis actually mentioned in reference to his twin his whole
life, even though he never really knew him, you know, he
still talked about him. That's sweet.
Yeah. And Elvis is actually Vernon,
his dad's middle name. That's where that name came
from. So Elvis grew up as an only
child. And his mother, Gladys, was
extremely protective of him. Some might say overprotective
People said that he was unusually close to his mother
and that they would talk in pet names and baby talk.
And he's really attached to his father as well.
He was, he was a total mama's boy.
Like that term is used all the time to describe him.
She really did give him so much special attention.
Like if company came over, she'd say that's Elvis's cup or that's
Elvis's special plate. Don't use it.
And. She definitely babied him a lot
and it's understandable since they lost their other son.
But I do think that some of the babying that Elvis experienced
kind of may have led to his coping issues as an adult.
Oh, I feel that. Which we'll get into, yeah.
I think he was used to being treated as a baby and being very
taken care of. Yes.
And I think that that's what he expected when he was older.
Both of his parents had very odd jobs, this and that.
They moved a lot. Not different towns, but like
around town like to different houses.
We take a drink I guess. I guess moved to different
houses isn't the same as moving around a lot you're.
Right. Oh, yeah, guys.
Oh. Well, I already took a drink,
Kelly Kelly. In the last Patreon episode, she
read the rules of our new drinking game, and that's one of
them. Every time someone moves around
a lot, take a drink. Should I read the other ones?
Yeah, why not? OK, these are the rules so far.
If you have any recommendations, send them in.
But don't make the recommendations be about us and
the things we say a lot, 'cause I know we repeat ourselves
sometimes, but OK, these are the rules.
John Mayer makes an appearance. Someone opens up on Howard
Stern. An Australian journalist asks a
brazing question. A man cheats on his wife slash
girlfriend. We have to keep in mind that
times are different back then and someone moves around a lot,
That's. And that's the drinking game so
far. I'm sure we'll come up with some
more just reoccurring themes. I love that.
Yeah, we're going to. We should post this and ask for
suggestions. We should, but I don't want it
to be like, oh, Cal always goes, oh, I know, yeah, yeah, 'cause
that's something that I would get to in my head about.
I know. Anyway, the Presley's they were
very poor. They lived in public assisted
housing and that's part of the reason why they were moving
around so much. And E Tupelo was known as a very
rough town at the time. In 1937, Elvis's dad, Vernon,
actually went to prison for eight months.
For forging a fake check. Oh, wow.
I'm trying to cash it. Yep.
And weirdly, after his dad got out, the whole family started
experiencing sleepwalking episodes.
Oh my God, the whole family. Yeah, I know it's Elvis got his
first guitar at age 11 and he was a quiet and sort of unusual
kid. He brought his guitar to school
every day, every single day, one year and.
Kid said that he's saying hillbilly music and I don't
know, I think they thought he was strange.
He learned guitar from the new pastor at church, 20 year old
Frank Smith, who had actually married Elvis's 15 year old
neighbor. Oh God, the pastor.
I know. Oh my God.
So I just mentioned that because.
You know, we gotta keep in mind that things were different,
different back then. Yeah, Drink.
And that was something that Elvis, you know, witnessed.
So I'm not saying everybody did that, but but yeah, if it's
like, oh, if like, my pastor did it, then it's normal.
Yeah. Yeah.
Wow. Elvis likes to play guitar for
people, but he was really shy about it and sometimes he would
only. Play when all the lights were
turned out so no one could see him, which is cute.
He was 13 years old. The family moved to Memphis and
so then he had to attend a new school.
And as a teenager he started dressing strangely fancy.
When everybody else was wearing jeans.
He'd show up to school and dress pants, a coat, fashion his scarf
into an Ascot. So people thought he was kind of
weird. I feel like we had some kids
like that in my school that would like, dress up.
Oh, yeah, we had kids. Suit.
There was always like one suit kid.
Yeah, yeah, every. Day.
That was Elvis, yeah, about young Elvis.
The author Alana Nash, who's a total Elvis expert, I like came
across her many times. She said that Elvis was a late
blooming mama's boy, a flop with girls and super religious, I
know. After Elvis graduated in 1953,
he began exploring singing professionally.
In July he went to Sun Records in Memphis, which was this is in
the Elvis movie If you guys saw it, where you can walk in and
for 398 you could record your own 2 sided record of your own
performance. Oh, so he went in there and the
boss of some Sun Records, Sam Phillips, asked.
A guy to note down Elvis's name because he thought he was good
and wrote good ballad singer Hold Elvis.
So he left and then he was trying out for other things and
he tried out for a quartet and he didn't get in.
And he started working actually for a electric company as a
truck driver. And he tried out for a band
during this time. And the leader of the band said
you should stick to truck truck driving because you're never
going to make it as a singer. There's always stories like I
know, maybe we can add that. Yeah, somebody, somebody tells
them they're never going to make it.
I don't know what the word is. Oh, wait, we need to add to the
drink, to the drinking thing. Somebody says like, I'm going to
marry that person. Yeah, and then they.
Do. I'm going to marry that person.
Someone has a prophecy, yes. Before they've ever met.
Yes. That's the key thing.
Before they've ever met. OK, so yeah, Elvis, he's just
being a truck driver. And then back to that guy at Sun
Records, Sam Phillips. He had some song that was going
to a music publisher that needed a singer because they couldn't
find the person that originally recorded the demo.
I don't know how that happens, but they just.
Is couldn't trace him down And he remembered Elvis and he
called him into the studio and had Elvis sing this song And
Elvis couldn't really get it right at first, but they kept
going And then he sang for some other people and they agreed to
record this song with Elvis and the song was called That's All
Right. And Sam ended up calling up.
After Elvis recorded it and left, he called up this radio DJ
and played it to him over the phone and the radio DJ said,
hey, can I have a copy of that? He sent it to him and then he
played it on the radio and then the rest is history really,
because all these people started calling in like crazy to hear it
again. And yeah, that was the start of
Elvis. That's all right.
I don't know if that's how. You got.
That's all right, Mama. The crazy thing is the first
time he performed for, you know, a real crowd, he was still using
his child size guitar. Oh wow.
A month later. OK, And I'm sorry this happened
last week, but I feel like Elvis's back story is so much
longer. Yeah.
I mean, it just makes sense. He's the more famous one.
Yeah, part of that is because he's Elvis.
Other is her story ends when she's 14.
Her back story. So oh that's true.
There's like nothing to say. Oh God oh.
So, you know, he started performing.
And I guess the combination of his strong response to rhythm
and nervousness at playing before a large crowd led him to
shake his legs as he performed. And his wide cut pants
emphasizes movements, causing young women in the audience to
scream. Oh yes, that was in the movie.
Yeah. So gyrations.
And in the movie Colonel Parker, he was introduced to him and
because he had managed some other musicians and he became
Elvis's manager. And I won't really talk about
him too much because this is about Priscilla, but Colonel
Parker was a scumbag really, and took advantage of Elvis and made
a lot of bad decisions for him and took a lot of a lot of his
money and some people think he may have.
Murdered someone back in the Netherlands and that's why he he
was an illegal immigrant in the US and he was really shifty
about his past and he never left because he didn't want anyone to
know. He was, you know, who he really
was, like his real name. And some people think he may
have been a murderer. It's just a theory.
But so he wouldn't let Elvis leave too, right?
Yeah. Wow, that's crazy.
I know, but anyway. So when he was 20 years old,
Elvis, he signed to RCA. He released the single
Heartbreak Hotel. They began promoting their new
singer Elvis Presley like crazy and he became a phenomenon.
His debut album was March 19561956.
I feel like was totally Elvis's year.
He had like all these TVTV appearances, Hound Dog, Blue
Suede's Shoes, Don't Be Cruel, Love Me Tender.
Like he was just crazy. And he started doing films, too.
Acting Then he had this performance on the Milton Berle
show where he abruptly stopped an up tempo rendition of Hound
Dog and he started doing a slow grinding version of his body
movements. Oh my God.
And I guess people went crazy. All the girls were screaming and
the newspapers were outraged, you know, saying that he was the
devil and turning all the teenagers super sexual and.
His reputation. Even though he was incredibly
popular, he had kind of a bad reputation now.
Yeah, before meeting Priscilla, he definitely had many
girlfriends, too many to talk about, honestly.
He definitely slept around. But it's interesting because
some of the girls he dated, like Judy Spreckels and June Monaco,
have said that they never slept with him.
Oh, interesting. And it's kind of a common So
what they did. I guess, I mean, I think they
would do other things, but they would never have like
penetration. Interesting.
I get it. Maybe he just wasn't into it.
I don't know. The author, Albert Goldman,
speculated the Elvis preferred voyeurism over normal sexual
relations with women and suggested that he had an intense
fear of STD's. Yeah.
I mean, that makes sense. I mean, I think that's good if
you're going to be sleeping around with that many.
But wait, you can get CDs from like going down on somebody.
I know, OK, he probably. Don't know.
Interesting. Before he became really famous,
I would say that Elvis was very polite.
He had impeccable manners. He's very old fashioned
Southern. Him and his family were very
insular. They just like.
Being together at home, he definitely was a homebody, but
he likes to be with people all the time.
He really didn't like being alone and he was very
particular. He liked things his way, you
know, I think he would like to. He's the kind of person that
would be like come to my house, you know, like he doesn't want
to go to other people's houses. He wants you to come to his
house. And I do think he was caring
with people though. He wanted to be liked by
everyone and he's pretty spiritual, but he definitely had
a temper. And I think as he got older, he
became a lot more troubled and even more of a control freak.
Yeah, OK, so we're almost, we're almost getting there.
We're almost getting there. He, you know, dated a couple
girls. In 1957, he was dating Anita
Wood, that TV performer. And then January 8th, 1956, his
birthday, his 21st birthday, he became eligible for the draft.
And Colonel Parker had written to the Pentagon requesting that
Elvis be considered for this special service, which would
allow him to do only six weeks of basic training and then
resume life as normal. But apparently Colonel had no
intention of allowing Presley to sign up for the special services
because he wouldn't receive any compensation for those
performances he would do. And so over the next 12 months,
Colonel Parker LED Elvis to believe that.
It would be possible to avoid the draft completely while
secretly planning to allow it. Oh my God, that's crazy.
I. Know because in his eyes, he
thought that after all the negative publicity Elvis had
gotten for being too sexual in his performances, that this
would be the perfect chance to make older Americans see him as
like an all American boy. So there's like a year between
the draft and him actually joining the military.
But. During that year, he was still
acting in movies and had all this music come out all shook
up. Blue Christmas, Here Comes Santa
Claus. All those Christmas songs.
Love them. Jailhouse Rock, Let Me Be Your
Teddy Bear. And he bought his mansion in
Memphis, famously known as Graceland, was on 13 acres of
land. But then he got the news that he
would have to serve as a regular soldier, and he's furious that
Colonel Parker. Didn't get him out of the draft,
but he promised him that if he worked hard for those two years,
because it's going to be two years in the military, he would
turn a bigger star than when he left.
Yep. I know that's crazy that they
even had a draft, but wow, I mean, good thing they didn't
prioritize like celebrities. Yeah, I'm sure.
Actually, they probably did. That's like, I bet they did,
but. I think they could have is the
thing I think they offered to. Let him just do six weeks of
training and then he would be able to just perform for the
soldiers. But Colonel Parker was like, no
is going. I don't know if this is like
victim blaming of me, but is this like part of like him being
so baby growing up? Because I am wondering like why
did he need somebody to get him out of it, his manager, like
couldn't he have been doing negotiations himself or
something? Exactly.
I think that he was pretty babied.
And then once he became famous, Elvis really just let other
people handle things for him. He didn't look at his finances
or anything. He didn't handle his money.
He just let other people do all of it, which is kind of his
fault. Yeah, You know?
And then he just didn't even know how to take care of himself
at all. Yeah, that's pretty sad.
Yeah, so after he finished his movie, King Creole.
He reported for induction on March 24th, 1958.
His fans were very upset. He said goodbye to his family
and friends and then he was taken by bus to Fort Chaffee,
Arkansas and then he was transferred to Fort Hood, TX for
military training. While he was in Texas, his
mother Gladys sadly felt I'll with liver complications and she
collapsed and was hospitalized. Elvis requested leave from his
training. And then August 14th, his mother
died sadly of late stage liver disease and Elvis and his father
Vernon lost it. They were crying their eyes out
and screaming. During his mother's funeral.
Elvis collapsed several times and he kept kissing her all over
her body and his friend Lamar said.
We got off the elevator at the hospital and I could hear Elvis
and Vernon wailing. I never heard anything like it
before in my life. It was like a scream.
So he was just devastated, like his mom was everything to him.
I feel like this was a big turning point in his life.
And then a month later, after that, he was stationed in West
Germany and headed out to Germany.
And that's where he met Priscilla Bollieu Bollie.
Beal i.e. U So she was living over in West
Germany with her family at the time, 'cause?
She was living in West Germany. OK, so who is Priscilla?
She was born May 24th, 1945 at Brooklyn Navy Hospital.
Her father, James Wagner, was AUS Navy pilot and her mother
had her at 19 years old. James was 23.
And when Priscilla was only six months old, her father actually
died in a plane crash. Oh, wow.
Just so sad. Priscilla was three years old
when her mother remarried an Air Force officer named Paul Bollier
Bollier. I feel like I had it down.
How to say it. And now I'm forgetting I know
that was. Paul Bollier Paul Bollier from
Quebec. Paul and her mother and had four
other children. And the crazy thing is,
Priscilla grew up thinking that Paula Bollier was her biological
father. Oh my God, that's pretty bad.
She. Had no I know she had no idea
about her biological dad names until she was older.
That's so disrespectful to the biological father, like he he
was cheated out of like a full life and died tragically.
And for her to, like, not even know he existed is so awful.
How could a parent keep a secret like that?
I know, it's crazy. People scare me.
People truly scare me. How deceptive people are?
We were talking about that earlier, Yeah.
Yeah, of someone of mine. I I couldn't.
There's like, no reason Her mom said that.
She kept it a secret from her so that she would fit in more with
the whole family. It's like, in a way, I
understand that. But you know what?
Sometimes there's going to be families and not everything's
going to always fit in most families, you know.
Priscilla discovered this because she was looking through
her mom's things and found a picture of her as a baby with
her mother and her father and was like, who is that Guy Says
Says Dad. But I don't know who that is.
And the crazy thing, too, is that her mom asked her to keep
the secret from the rest of her siblings.
Oh my God, Mom, do better this. That's awful.
That is awful. People.
I. Know are sociopaths like I don't
understand stuff like that. God, I'm guessing she told her
siblings eventually, because it's in her memoir.
Burden. A child with something like
that? That's so.
Crazy. So they moved around a lot.
Take a drink because Paul Paul Bollier was in the Air Force.
They lived in Connecticut, New Mexico, Maine, Texas.
Apparently Priscilla felt very shy and uneasy about moving
every time, But she was very beautiful and when they were
living in Texas, she won a competition and became Queen of
Del Valley High in the beginning of high school.
That's when her family got the news that they'd be moving to
West Germany for the Air Force, which crushed Priscilla.
She was so upset to believe, being her new friend she'd made
and, you know, she was queen of Delaware Valley High.
She was leaving behind a good thing.
Her friend in Texas, though, told her that Elvis was
stationed in West Germany, and Priscilla said she was
determined to meet him. She liked Elvis, but she wasn't,
she said. She wasn't as obsessed as her
other friend, like she didn't have.
Elvis T-shirts or whatever. But she did have a Elvis fan
club magazine, OK? Which is crazy, I know.
Imagine you have a fan club magazine of somebody and then
you go on to marry them. It's just Oh my.
Gosh. So she's in West Germany, She's
living there. She's going to school there.
She's hanging out at this place called the Eagle's Nest, which I
think. It's kind of like a diner.
It was a place where American families hung out.
She was hanging out there listening to the the, the
jukebox. She's listening to the jukebox
and this guy approaches her, who I think was maybe in his 20s.
His name was Curry Grant and he invited her to go to a party at
Elvis's, which is very strained. Curry Grant was married, so he I
don't think he was interested in Priscilla, but I don't know if
he. Was scouting a girl for Elvis or
something like I don't know why he no girls over there.
I think so, yeah. I mean, yeah, Elvis was in the
military. All he really did was go to his
service and then go home. So I don't know if he was trying
to just find some cool girls to bring over, but.
He asked Priscilla if she'd go. She said.
I don't think my parents will let me.
So Curry Grant actually went to her house and talked to her
parents and assured them it would be fine.
Oh my God, everything I'm learning about these parents is
terrible. Like the age gap I'm honestly
blaming on the parents. I know.
There's really nobody else to blame.
Oh my gosh. But yeah, her parents agreed.
They're like, OK, you're going to pick her up?
Bring her back by this time. All right, you can go.
So then on September 13th, 1959, Curry Grant picked up 14 year
old Priscilla Bollier Bollier and brought her to Elvis's house
in bad new I'm Germany, where he was renting while doing military
service. And yeah, he's 24.
How could the parents say yes or that like Oh yeah, like this a
grown adult man is gonna pick up our 14 year old daughter and
bring her to a party in order to meet another 24.
It's just cause Elvis was a celebrity so they were like yes,
yes, God, totally the parents fault she.
Said that that, like his fame did make her parents loosen up
their morals. Yeah, a bit.
I mean, yeah, that happens. So at the house.
There was a lot of people there. And interestingly, Elvis's dad
and his grandma were there. So it wasn't actually a crazy
party. It sounded kind of wholesome.
Curry introduced her to Elvis, and when he heard that she was
in the ninth grade, he said, what, you're just a little baby.
And then there's small talking. And he played the piano and
sang, I will say. Sort of.
I mean, it doesn't make it OK, but I do think she looked a lot
older for her age. When I look at pictures of her,
feels very mature back then did, right?
I don't. Know.
Yeah. Maybe that's just us because we
think their hair. Yeah, exactly.
Actually, we're older looking. Or if we just think they do.
But she did look like a mature woman.
But so she she hung out there. And then she didn't get home
till 2:00 AM. Which was way past the curfew
and her parents were very upset and said that she couldn't go
again and she was in huge trouble.
And then a few days later, Curry Grant called again and said
Elvis would like you to come again next time.
Her parents are really uneasy about this, so Elvis actually
came to meet her parents and tell them that I'll get her home
at a reasonable time and everything.
Her dad said, what exactly are your intentions here?
Like what is the deal? And Elvis said that he was just
lonesome and it was nice to meet someone from back home and that
he just liked talking to their daughter.
Is it talking all that you're doing?
I think that the first party, yeah.
But no, they eventually would. Basically, she started going to
Elvis's house. Multiple times a week.
And every time she went there, there was a ton of people there
and they'd all be listening to the piano and music playing and
talking and grandma's there and dad's there and whatever.
But Elvis do this thing where he would like make a face like a
little hint at her and whisper to her like I'll meet you in my
room and she would go meet him in his room and then.
They would make out and talk, yeah.
Why would her parents let her do this?
I think that Priscilla and her parents, even though she was
only 14, so it seems like it would be way too early to be
thinking about this. But I think they felt kind of
like flattered that Elvis was interested in their daughter and
felt like he could provide for her and could be good marriage
material or something. Yeah, it's it's in a way lucky
that they ended up getting married.
Because what most likely happens probably in that situation is he
just like fucks around with her and like messes her up and
damages her for life. And then like it's a Trump, like
traumatizing experience for a 14 year old.
It's lucky in a way that like they had a relationship because.
I know. God it is.
That's risky of them and just stupid.
It is. And also, like you said, you're
supposed to provide for your own.
Child like you provide for her. God, I know.
I do think it wasn't quite as easy as it might sound like.
I think that her and her parents fought.
All the time about this, they would say like, no, you're not
going. And she'd be like screaming and
crying and saying you're ruining my life and that kind of thing.
And then they would just give in and say, OK, I don't think they
were just saying, like, Oh yeah, go ahead.
They were not happy about it, but they just gave into it.
Yeah. And Priscilla said in her book
that she felt like her parents were almost worried To let her
miss this opportunity that like. If they stopped her from dating
Elvis Presley that she would hate them.
And I think sometimes parents want their kids to like them so
much that they let them do things that are not really good
for them. But they didn't want her to miss
the chance to be with Elvis. Oh God, yeah.
OK, but The thing is, Elvis was still technically I'm pretty
sure with Anita Wood. Oh God.
As if this can't get any worse. I think that they were still
talking. I don't know if they had an
agreement or something because he was there for two years, but
I'm pretty sure he was still talking to Anita during this
time. And so Priscilla was going there
multiple times a week and there was this whole ordeal about how
she would get to Elvis's house because I think it was like a 45
minute drive away or something. So all of us would have to pick
her up and drop her off. Or if he's getting back late
from service, one of his friends or his dad would pick her up.
It was a whole thing. She actually started failing
school because she was staying up so late at Elvis's during the
school week. That's not good, Yeah.
One night Elvis's friend was driving her to the house in bad
New I'm and hid. The friend tried to like make a
move on her and basically assaulted her and she told Elvis
and he was furious and apparently cut him out of his
life but. No, it was scary, like she was
just being driven by these random people that were way
older than her. That's terrifying, yeah.
I know, baby. So I know it was 8 months that
they were together in Germany. During this time, and the whole
time that they were seeing each other, she didn't really know
where she fit into his life. She was suspicious that some of
the other girls are at his house.
We're seeing him too, like one girl one time knew.
That his guitar pick was by his bedside table and she was like,
huh, How did he, how did she know that?
Oh, gosh. So I don't think they were
officially exclusive. Yeah, but when you're 14, she's
not going to know to like ask and stuff.
Gosh, she really took advantage. That's really fucked up.
I. Know.
But then he had to go back to the States.
His two years in service were over.
And before he left, apparently. This is according to her memoir.
Apparently she begged him to sleep with her, but he said no,
not yet. You're too young, I said in my
notes. What's going on here?
I mean, that's a good thing, but I find it hard to believe.
Yeah, I know he was. I know he was really religious.
But I also read that he did sleep with girls, So I was
trying to figure this out. So he was leaving Germany.
She went with him to the airport.
She actually drove in the car with him and said goodbye.
But then she was lost in the crowd of screaming fans.
And they're actually photos of her, I think, from Life magazine
waving in the crowd. Wow.
She was apparently so depressed after he left.
She cried and didn't eat for days, and she didn't hear from
Elvis for three weeks until he called.
And said, like, how are you doing?
And over the next two years, she would sporadically hear from him
just like every couple months or every few weeks he would call
and she had no idea where she fit into his life.
That's anxiety. Back to living.
I feel like you. I know, like on edge.
Like waiting for that call and then waiting for the next one.
And oh, I feel like that would take over your whole high
school. I know.
And she was inundated with requests for interviews from
magazines. And there's a famous article
about her called The Girl He Left Behind with those pictures
from the crowd around the airport.
And Elvis actually asked about the girl he left behind in an
interview. And I have a clip I want to show
you. Elvis, there have been a lot of
rumors about your love life. Did you meet anyone special in
Germany? Not any special one.
There was a little girl that I was, I was seeing quite often
over there that her father was in the Air Force and actually
they only got over there about two months before I left.
And I was seeing her and she was at the train at the airport when
I left, and there was some pictures made of her, but there
was no big, there was no big romance, I mean.
The stories came out. The girl he left behind and all
that. It wasn't.
It wasn't like that. I mean, I had to be careful when
I answer a question. Oh my God, that's so me.
Like at work when people ask like about my love life and I'm
like, I literally am like. Oh, I don't know.
There was someone and I got no big.
Romance. No big romance.
And I got to be careful what I say.
I start over sharing way too much.
Yeah, wow. Austin Butler did a great job
because that did. Was like, uncanny into Austin
Butler's performance. Wow.
He truly did an amazing job. I was watching all these clips
of Elvis and even older Elvis and I just feel like, wow,
Austin nailed it. He really.
Like that was that props to him. I I saw that clip and I was like
wow, that's awesome, Butler. That's crazy.
I know. But.
OK, I had to say that was if it wasn't like Priscilla was 14,
that was kind of cute. Like if it's just like the if.
I didn't know anything. I know that was cute.
But damn it, Elvis, we want a root for you, but you make it so
hard. Rooting for you, God.
So he's back in the US. He's back to recording.
He's back to making movies. All this, he's back on his thing
and unbeknownst to Priscilla, I think, although she had her
suspicions, I think Elvis was back with Anita Wood and Anita
was even living at Graceland. But while he's with Anita, he
still is calling Priscilla every couple weeks or once in a while,
which is not cool Elvis. And there were all these rumors
of him with his Co stars and stuff, so it's kind of unclear
what was going on here. Also, crazy enough Priscilla.
I don't know how she would know this, but she claimed that Elvis
and Anita never went all the way.
So. What I almost wonder.
Maybe this isn't my place to speculate, but if he had
erectile dysfunction or something?
Because there are like guys, should I should I not say this?
There are guys who can't. They can't stay hard.
If someone's not going down on them or something, once they try
to like, put it in, they can't. I know that's kind of vulgar.
He had some kind of issue, for sure.
He did. I mean, I was even questioning,
like, was he into women? And I was trying to Google it
and I couldn't, Yeah, find anything about that.
But I think he was. But there was something odd
going on there. Yeah.
And already at this time in his life, Elvis is taking a lot of
pills. Oh, Oh yeah.
He's taking pills to be awake. Yeah, he's taking pills to be
awake. He's taking pills to go to
sleep. He, like, lives on these pills.
So I think that was messing with him.
Yeah, definitely. That would be a huge factor.
So that summer in 1962, Elvis and Anita broke up and she left
Graceland. And then Elvis called Priscilla
and asked her to come visit him in LA and now she's, yeah,
sorry. How old is she?
She's 17 now. After a lot of begging and
crying and pleading, Priscilla's parents agreed to let her visit
him in LA for two weeks. They allowed her to go on the
condition that Elvis I know. Did they go with her pay for a
first no. My God, I know they allowed her
to go on the condition that Elvis pay for a first class
round trip and arrange for her to be chaperoned at all times.
By that, she right home every day.
Who is the Chaperone by? I don't know.
Like his dad or something? I don't know.
Oh my God, these parents. We all knew people like this in
high school, though, whose parents would let them do
anything. It's like you idiots.
God, it's crazy. And it was really naive of them
because the first she went to LA and the first night there, well,
I guess nothing really happened the first night, but the second
night, he said. Let's go to Vegas.
Oh my God, what? I'm supposed to write my parents
every day from LA? They'll notice if it says the
stamp is from Vegas. And so they came up with a plan
where she wrote all her letters in advance and someone on his
team sent them every day. So sketchy.
Oh my God, Make it look like she was in LA the whole time.
I know. But the first night she got
there, so she hadn't seen Elvis in years, actually, she was
really nervous. She walked into his house.
I don't know why he didn't pick her up, but like somebody else
picked her up from the airport. And yeah, and she walked in and
he was playing pool with a bunch of people.
And she said that he looked really different.
He had his hair dyed black. Now he seemed a lot more
confident, and when he saw her in the doorway, he went to hug
her and was all she's here, and everybody seemed all happy for
her, but she felt uneasy because there were a bunch of girls
there too, and she didn't know them and just felt out of place,
you know? And I feel like when you're 1714
is forever you know like that's yeah, so long ago.
So that's that must have been scary.
They're not nuts. Yeah, that they stayed in touch
and that this even happened. That is cleared.
Yeah, I mean, they didn't even have cell phones or social media
or e-mail or anything, I know. That's so true.
And it was only like, I guess it was like, what, eight months,
was it? No, it meant two years.
Wait, what do you mean 8? Months.
Eight months that they were talking.
Oh, that they made it. Yeah.
Eight months, yeah.
But still like and then and he lives such a fast life that it's
like, I feel like he'd meet so many other people in that time
period, but she must have such a deep impression on him.
God, I know That first night she wanted to sleep with Elvis, but
he said no, not yet. And he actually had her sleep in
another bedroom, which seems nice.
But Priscilla said later in life she found out that he might have
been getting on call from Anita, which is maybe why he wanted his
own you God this. So they went to Vegas.
They were partying and going to casinos.
And as I said that he's taking a ton of pills to go to sleep and
to be awake. First of all, he had a super
fast lifestyle. Like you said.
He had to do all this work and performing and you know, he had
trouble letting go at night and going to sleep.
And he also had a huge fear of insomnia and sleepwalking
because remember, his whole family started sleepwalking,
really. So that's part of the reason why
he was so into sleeping pills. And he took these super high
dosage pills. And so when they were in Vegas,
she started to notice that that like every night, she expected
it to be like romantic around bedtime, but he would be like,
already slurring his words and falling asleep, you know, And
there's actually, I put it in my notes.
I don't know why I got so interested in this facet, but a
lot of women said that Elvis wasn't interested in having sex
with them. It probably was because of all
the pills he was taking, yeah. Yeah, that makes sense.
I mean maybe he won't read it but I have like 3 women quotes
here just saying how he he didn't seem that interested I.
Believe it, yeah. And on this trip, this is the
first time Priscilla took amphetamines and sleeping pills
to keep up with Elvis's lifestyle.
That's fucked up that he was like, I know, giving her that
God. So she went back to Germany and
then he invited her to come back to Graceland for Christmas,
which was months away because it was summertime now.
But he said that he would be busy filming movies and stuff
and it would be nice to see her at Christmas time.
So she waited for the right moment to suggest it to her
parents. And then when she did, they were
so upset and said that Christmas was her family.
How could you say that? But they did agree to let her go
to Graceland for Christmas. Oh my God, these parents get a
backbone. Jesus Christ.
So she flew to Memphis, Graceland, Tennessee, and she
went for the the week. Her first night there, Elvis
gave her sleeping pills and they knocked her out for literally 2.
Days. Oh my God, that's a two days.
I don't. Worry that someone died if they
were passed out for two days. That's crazy, I guess, because
that's the amount that he took and he didn't realize that he
had such a high tolerance. So yeah, and then I guess
because she was gone for two days he didn't like, but now
there's only 5 days of Priscilla.
So then he asked her if she could ask her parents to stay
longer. And I bet they said yes.
They said no, Oh. OK.
They actually said no. OK, good, good, good.
This is the crazy thing though. What then?
He suggested. What if you moved to Graceland
and just go to school here? And I hope they said no.
They said yes. Oh my God, I.
Know they're they're trying so much to secure the bag.
Like it's ridiculous. It's, it's.
They should provide. Still 17.
Yeah. He's like a musician, a famous
musician. So, like, he's obviously not
even living like the normal lifestyle of a regular guy.
That's ridiculous. It's really sad, 'cause I feel
like she was robbed of, like a young person's experience.
Like, he's not even a good boyfriend.
He's a bad lover. He's not good.
It's he's just famous. But he's not.
He's not even, like providing anything.
I mean she was in love with him and they she does say that they
had a very special bond and they could talk about things.
And I don't think it was just like, oh, he's total shit.
Like, I think she did think that they had a romance.
Yeah. But yeah, I mean, I don't think
her parents, again, I don't think they liked the idea.
And I think they said no at first.
But then she kept begging and they said yes.
And part of the agreement was that they would eventually
marry, that she would finish her senior year at an all girls
Catholic school, and that she would live with Elvis's father
and stepmother in a separate house, which was a few streets
away. Weird until she graduated.
Weird. But according to her
autobiography, because she did move there and she moved into
Elvis's dad's house, she had gradually moved her things into
Graceland, and it's believed that she had been living there
full time as early as May 1963. OK, when she was 18, but she was
not actually doing the living at Dad's house thing, Yeah.
Wow. But she would expect.
I mean, why? Why would Elvis Presley?
Yeah, just like, yeah, you my girlfriend is going to live a
couple streets away. Like, no.
Yeah. Wait one SEC.
I'm just going to. My door is like half open.
I'm just going to close it. All right, I'm back.
OK, A couple, A couple more pages.
This is this is this. Is a riveting episode.
I'm like, on that. OK, oh, someone's like, rubbing
their engine. OK, keep going.
So now she's living at Graceland.
I actually kind of want to go to Graceland now.
I never I really wanted to before this, but now.
I want to go to Tennessee. Me too, Mel.
I never have. Yeah, that's a like, that's like
a central state to go to. We should go.
Yeah, I want to go to Chattanooga.
I mean, that's a cool place. I would be down.
I'd go. I'd go anywhere.
Seriously. Anyway, she's living at
Graceland. Her life is totally merged with
Elvis's. He chose her clothes, her
makeup, her hair, her big hair. Wait, He chose it.
She spent, yeah. I mean, it was like his
suggestion, you know, they'd go shopping together and he'd be
like, Oh yeah, wear this. He basically shaped her whole
look, the one with the big hair and the dramatic eye makeup.
According to her, she spent all her time with his family and his
whole entourage. Thing about Elvis is he always
had all his guys around, like his friends that worked for him.
They were constantly there and he had a totally crazy life.
He had access to anything he wanted.
I mean, he had so much money, like they would rent out the
entire movie theater whenever he wanted or the whole amusement
park. And when something would annoy
him on TV, he would take out his gun and shoot the TV.
I know. Handed over my face right now.
Yeah. God that he would stay up all
night long and would sleep till 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon.
Oh my God, he was not a good lover.
Like, I feel bad for her that this scary, the love of her
life. Like he's terrible.
Oh, and Priscilla would still. She was still in school.
So she would go to school and then she would get back and he
would just be waking up and ready to start his crazy day.
Elvis would obsessively This is this isn't bad, but it's just
weird. He would obsessively eat this
name foods over and over until he got bored of it.
Oh yeah, somewhat do that, but but not as dramatic.
Wasn't he really obsessed with peanut butter or banana
sandwiches? Yes.
That's what I specifically Peanut butter banana bacon
sandwich. OK, wow.
And Priscilla said that Elvis enjoyed meatloaf and mashed
potatoes so much that he ate it every day for dinner for six
months. That was like, wasn't he?
Didn't he have a lot of bowel issues, too?
Like, that's good. Not gonna help?
I think so. He.
Yeah. He did not take care of himself.
Yeah. And.
And and he started to gain weight but then he got really
into karate and then he got more slim and he was always like back
and. Forth.
But that probably the not taking care of himself speaks to him
being baby his whole life. So it's like he didn't have any
form of autonomy or maturity whatsoever.
God, OK. And he did have a temper, as
they mentioned in the beginning. And she said that in the house
in Graceland, everyone's mood kind of depended on Elvis's.
You know, like when he would come out in the morning, or I
guess it would be the afternoon. Like everyone would wait to see
how he felt because like he was in a bad mood, wouldn't want to
take him off. Yeah, he had too much power.
God, she said. One time he asked her what she
thought about a song and she said that he that he had
recorded and she said that she didn't really like it and he
threw a chair and he didn't throw it at her.
But there was like a stack of records on it and they all went
everywhere and like hit her. And she said it was really
scary. That is really scary.
Oh, I feel really bad for her. I know it.
Makes me sad. It makes because I was thinking
in the beginning of this episode, I was like, I don't
know, like how critical to be of this relationship, because I
think that, like, to this day, she still seems to have an
undying love for Elvis. But it makes me really sad
because I think so much of it is probably because of how he
treated her and he created this dynamic that was really not OK.
And I don't know, I feel like you cheated at her out of
experiences that she could have had.
I know. That makes me sad.
But you do have to remember times were different back then.
A lot of women weren't expected to have that many experiences.
A lot of women did just get married after high.
School. In a way, she did get to
experience more than the average.
Woman just like travelling and all the things she had, but she
definitely wasn't treated that well.
And yeah, I don't know, I think that she really, really did love
him. And I think in a way jumping
ahead, I think the relationship got was one of those where it
got better after they weren't together anymore.
But it's upsetting. I mean, she she definitely had
good memories with him, but he was a very hard person.
I feel like if you get with somebody at that age, when
you're that young, you don't know anything differently so.
You're going to always be very forgiving and understanding and
loyal to them because that's all you know.
And like it's it's so intertwined.
Your brain is not even fully developed.
So it's so intertwined with your sense of self that like even
when she's 6570, she's not going to even be able to be mad at
Elvis because Elvis is a part of her.
You know, it's kind of sad. It's true, she finally graduated
high school and Elvis was excited for it.
He wanted to go, but she said she asked him not to go because
he thought that he would. She thought he would distract
from all the graduates and he said, oh, he understood.
So he waited outside for her to come out.
That's crazy. I mean, he was like the most
famous person in the world, probably.
Can you imagine someone in your? Oh my God.
Boyfriend's outside and it's like.
Especially in all girls school. Like what?
I know it's crazy. But she did graduate, so that's
good because I know her grades weren't doing so well And Elvis
would leave often to go to Hollywood to make movies and he
would leave her at Graceland and there were a lot of rumors about
him and his Co star and Margaret getting together and.
And Margaret even told the press that they were engaged and
Priscilla confronted Elvis and said what the heck is this?
And Elvis like freaked out and said that Ann Margaret made it
up. But I do think that there could
be some truth to it, because some a letter or a Telegraph or
something got sent to the house from Ann Margaret that said, I
can't remember exactly what it said, but it said like I'm
confused what happened or something.
Oh my God, this dog. He is a dog and two I know, and
two weeks later he told Priscilla it was all over with
her. Him and Anne did keep in touch
the rest of his life. Oh Oh my God, I don't trust him
at all. I don't not trust him.
You can't. You can't trust him.
Even though I'm describing Elvis in a very negative way, he could
be very caring of everyone. Like all the people that lived
at Graceland, all his friends and everything, Whenever they
asked something from from him, he would give it to them.
And he always supported people like help them put a down
payment on a house or whatever, and like he was super loyal to
everybody in his life. Yeah, people are so complicated.
Almost. Yeah, because people did really
take advantage of him. And it's weird because we're
saying like he has too much power.
But then his manager for some reason had such a hold over him
and like somehow made him do all these bad movies.
And at one point later in his life, he was taking away
depending like on certain projects, he was taking like 80%
of Elvis's money or like sometimes usually was like 50%.
But it's just no. It's like he was almost too
trusting with some people, but you also couldn't trust him so.
Exactly. Yeah.
It's like he was like, he's a super confusing person.
He let people be the alpha in so many different situations and
then like this, when he had the opportunity, he had to be the
alpha. Yeah, yes, yes, yes.
But I think that he had at the end of the day he kind of did
have low self esteem, like he was very sensitive to criticism
and. You know who that's reminding me
of? My old friend Megan from Colin.
All this was troubled, though. Like he he really was.
I think he was depressed at some point.
And he was also very spiritual. He held Bible readings at
Graceland and he was also exploring Eastern spirituality.
He was. He's very into stuff like that.
And he tried to get Priscilla to be into it, too, but she wasn't.
Really. Yeah.
So now she's been living at Graceland for three years.
And apparently Colonel Parker, his manager, reminded Elvis of
RC as moral clause because it didn't look good that him and
Priscilla were living together and that they weren't married.
And he had. He had promised Priscilla's dad
that he would marry her. And both Priscilla's dad and
Colonel Parker were really putting the heat on him about
it. Like, you have to marry her.
You can't just keep doing this. And apparently part of the
reason Colonel Parker was so stressed about this was recently
the singer Jerry Lee Lewis had recently married his 13 year old
cousin. Oh.
What? What?
Yeah, cousin. Yeah.
And it had been a huge scandal and kind of ruined his career.
And they didn't want that to happen to Elvis.
Oh. My God, I'm disgusted.
And fun fact, later in life, like in the 70s, Jerry Lee Lewis
showed up at Graceland, it was throwing bottles at the entrance
and Elvis was watching from the security camera and told the
staff to call the police. What?
Why? How did he even get there?
That's crazy. I never heard even heard.
I heard that about him. That is weird.
I actually heard about it because when I was researching
the Winona Ryder episode, she was in a movie called Great
Balls of Fire and she played Jerry Lee Lewis's 13 year old
bride in the movie depiction of it.
Wait, he was so creepy looking. I'm looking at him up right now.
His wife looks like she really looked 13 too.
It's not even like I know she looks.
Old for her age, which no matter what.
No, no, no. You yuck.
So yeah, they they really didn't want APR disaster like that.
And she was 21 now, and I don't know.
I don't. I think Elvis did love her and I
think he did always want to get married.
But it does kind of sound like he was pressured a little bit.
And shortly before Christmas 1966, he proposed to her, Just
at home in her dressing room, apparently, and she said yes.
Oh wow. And later, Priscilla told Ladies
her home journal that her and Elvis were happy to just live
together. But she said at the time it
wasn't nice for people to just live together.
Yeah, so. Yeah, I think she was dying to
marry him either. But it was because it was
social. It would have been more socially
acceptable to get married. Yeah, that makes sense.
There's a lot of conflicting stories about this.
Like, some sources say that he was so happy to marry her and he
was in love. And some say that he felt
trapped and was forced to. So I don't know.
I think maybe it was a little bit of both.
All right. She's been living in Graceland
for years. According to Priscilla, in her
memoir, they still had not slept together.
What? That's She said that Elvis told
her they had to wait until they were married, he said.
I'm not saying we can't do other things, it's just the actual
encounter I want to save. It so maybe that's a part of it
too is he was very religious like some people do or just buy
the book or like we can literally do anything but like
we cannot have. He was very religious but I
don't think he was a virgin so. That's weird, you know?
Yeah. But maybe, maybe he had.
He wanted to start over or. Something I don't know.
Yeah. Wow.
Yeah, she and Priscilla's wears by it like she's been asked
about it many times. To this day, she swears that
they never had sex until her wedding night.
Honestly, I kind of believe her. If there's so many testaments
from other women about, like the fact that he wasn't having sex
and he was on all these pills, probably wasn't that capable of
it, to be honest with you. I know I didn't believe it at
first, but then the more I was looking into it and all of his
exes, a lot of they pretty much all said the same thing.
So I think it was true, kind of random, but Elvis started
getting super into horses. Oh, and he bought horses for
everybody, all his friends and Priscilla and riding gear and
clothing and built the stable and like all this thing.
And he got Priscilla. Yeah, very expensive.
And he got Priscilla Horse for Christmas that year.
And then actually it's OK if I go to the.
Bathroom. I have to go to the bathroom.
Really too. I was just going to say that.
OK, perfect. Let's do it.
OK, let's take a break and we're back, OK?
He had just gotten her horse and then the couple married on May
1st, 1967 at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas.
The wedding was arranged by that horrible Colonel Parker to
maximize publicity and featured very few guests.
And it was only 8 minutes long the whole service.
Oh wow. Were her parents there?
I bet. I bet they were probably right.
They were. But it was.
It was very small, and it actually caused a lot of rifts
between Elvis and many of his closest friends because they
were not invited to wedding ceremony, because the Colonel
wanted to keep it really small for some reason.
And then afterward, there was a breakfast reception and a
publicity What's it called? A oh, press conference.
Like, what's the word? It's followed by a press
conference. So it was kind of like all
business, in a way. Then Elvis and Priscilla boarded
Private Jet and they had a short honeymoon in Palm Springs.
Same honeymoon spot as Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio.
I remembered. So did he request ATV and the.
And then he shoots it with his gun?
Yeah. Yeah.
Like what?
Apparently. Remember Ann Margaret who said
that they were engaged? Yes.
She got married just one week after this.
OK. I'm happy she found love.
She was moving. Yeah.
And then, in the attempts to
heal riffs with their friends, Elvis and Priscilla had another
reception at Graceland on May 29th and invited all the people
that weren't able to attend the original ceremonies.
That's nice, Yeah. Soon after, Priscilla found out
that she was pregnant, which she was upset about because she felt
like it was too soon. She's so young.
How? How old is she at this point?
Like 2120, I think 21. Yeah.
So she's pregnant. And then I could not believe
this. I was guys, I was listening to
her memoir while I was driving. It was actually dark at this
point. I was in the woods and I heard
that when she was seven months pregnant, Elvis suggested that
they take a break. Oh my God, I was at the wheel
and I just couldn't believe it. I was like, are you kidding?
Elvis, you cannot get any lower right now.
Like, I was so mad at him. Oh my God.
But basically the next day he actually, like, he never said it
and they just kept being together.
Oh. My.
God, he probably. He probably was super fucked up
like on pills and stuff and was like pissed at her for probably
being pissed at him about how shitty of a boyfriend or husband
he was and Oh my God, but like that.
That's the thing that makes you feel so bad for Priscilla
though. It's like she she was so
beautiful and she was so loving, loving and forgiving and was
understanding and like her whole like.
Young life was taken over and stolen by this guy who just
didn't deserve her at all. But just because he was famous,
like it's so fucked up. Oh God.
But they stayed together. February 1st, 1968, she gave
birth to Lisa Marie Presley. She was born exactly nine months
after their wedding. Wow.
Sometimes I feel like I sound
like Owen Wilson on this podcast with the with the Like 2
accidental impersonations. As if you couldn't feel bad
enough for Priscilla. And yes, OK, she has all the
money and all, you know she can do whatever she wants.
But still, I feel really bad for her.
And I feel even more bad for her, because after she had Bliss
and Marie, Elvis apparently became less and less sexually
interested in her, and he once told her that he couldn't be,
like, sexually attracted to a mother.
Oh. My God, I know he, he really,
he's like a psychologist dream because he he had so much stuff
going on. He totally had that Madonna
horror complex, you know? I don't.
I don't think I know what that is.
Something about his mom. Oh, that's like when somebody
has trouble seeing women as more than stereotypes.
Like Madonna, meaning like the Heavenly Mother, you know, or
the whore, the sexual one. And like they can't see a woman
as somehow being both. I feel like you know neither or
whatever, but. Yeah, a lot of guys like that.
Oh my God. I know.
Oh, I feel so bad for her. I feel so.
But if you think about it, if you think about it, she only
really had sex with Elvis for like 9 months.
I shouldn't be laughing. Maybe a little bit longer than
that, but really it wasn't that long because he wouldn't have
sex with her before their wedding and then after he was
not interested anymore. And it's like he, I feel like he
made her feel so important and then like would discard her.
And she's a mother because you knocked her up.
Like, that's awful. I mean they still they still
spent time together like they were still a family.
It's not like he was just gone. But yeah, he you know, he wasn't
seeming as attracted to her, even though she if you see
pictures of her, she was gorgeous.
Yeah, like that. One of the most gorgeous people
ever. Yeah.
Actually reminds me of Breaking Dawn because there were stories
about her, like dressing up in lingerie and, you know, going to
lie down next to Elvis and he was already falling asleep
because of his sleeping pills. Oh my God, yeah, that's very
breaking down part one. So man, there's so many
connections to everything, You know, life is just a tapestry
and all the strings connect. Because this reminds me so much
of the F Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald episode,
because she, you know, she's going through a hard time and
she starts taking dance lessons and she starts getting so into
it. And she starts going multiple
times a day. Like, who does that?
I don't know. Anybody that does that.
Like an adult? Yeah, multiple.
Times a day I want to do that. That'd be so fun.
I know. Oh my.
I guess if you don't have a job and you have all the money in
the world, you can. That'd be my dream life,
actually. Yeah, yeah.
So she started dancing every day, just like Zelda, and she
actually had a brief affair with her dance instructor Mark.
Good for her, Yeah, good for her.
But he was 45. Oh, but whatever.
Yeah. I mean, at this point, at this
point, though, she needs a little, like, intimacy.
And yeah, she's done. Yeah.
And he's been cheating on her, so.
He has been. We we need to take a drink for
that. Oh yes.
So then Elvis had been in a slump recently, career wise.
All his movies were kind of silly and very similar to each
other and people were starting to say they were a joke.
I think that's part of the reason he was being so terrible
to Priscilla is he really felt down in the dumps about himself.
But then he had his comeback special on TV, which was a huge
hit. He hadn't been on TV in years,
and he had kind of stepped away from music, just doing his silly
movies. But then when the special came
out, people were just wowed about IT.
People loved him again. I mean, I don't, I don't know
what we can compare this to in recent times.
I'm kind of. I almost feel like it reminds me
of like Lady Gaga and choosing A Star is Born like.
I mean, no, she had, she had a good reputation.
She, it hadn't been a negative reputation, but people were
like, Oh my God, it was she was back in the spotlight, you know,
who was reminding me of less So because I feel like she's never
been the way that she was in the beginning.
But Britney Spears where like people love Britney Spears.
And then obvious. And then she was like a joke
like. To people like, it was like it
was very unpopular to look like Britney Spears, and then now
people are very sympathetic to her, obviously, but that's true.
People really, Britney and Elvis have so many similarities.
Yeah, they really do. Because also like her
conservatorship, I mean, it's not the same, but I feel like
Elvis wasn't in control. I mean, in the beginning it was
kind of his fault, but then I think it kind of like got out to
the point where he just had no control over his finances and
both of Elvis and Brittany did the Vegas residency.
That's true, yeah. And they both came from, like,
pretty Southern religious families as well.
Yes. So yeah, the comeback special
was a huge hit. And then he was invited to
perform at the International Hotel in Vegas, which was his
first. So this is 1969.
It was his first live performance in nearly eight
years. Wow.
And he was super nervous. And there's actually this really
cute footage of him backstage before the show that, you know,
I was so angry at Elvis. And then I watched this footage
and I was like, oh, yeah, because he was like, blowing out
a puff of air. And he was like, I hope I don't
forget the lurk because I'm like, he was practicing.
And you could see that he was really nervous and.
Well, let's see. I feel like that is very
validating to Priscilla because it's like we can see why she was
head over heels for this man. Like it's He does have charm, so
he does. He does so both his TV comeback
special and his return to the stage where immense successes
and he felt way more confident in in higher spirits.
And I guess it improved their relationship for a little while.
He continued to do more shows in Vegas.
They came up with a deal where he would like twice a year do a
number of shows there and he started to, you know, he would
their relationship was better because of his success.
But then the success started to take away from the relationship
because he wanted to keep up the old lifestyle and she didn't.
And then she eventually just said, you know what, you can
just go out with the boys. Like, I I don't want to come
anymore. Like, I I can't do this anymore.
So started spending less time together while he was busy off
of his shows and everything. She started to get a lot more
into karate, which was something that Elvis was into too.
He was actually a black belt. I didn't know that.
And apparently his, like his jumpsuit outfits that he would
wear was kind of inspired from the karate outfit.
I know I didn't know that. So she's getting really into
karate and also Taekwondo and she's starting to feel a lot
more confident about herself and she's making new friends through
it, meeting other couples. She started to not wear as much
make up and started dressing how she wanted to.
And she started to realize that her relationship wasn't that
healthy. Like as she was starting to
spend more time with adult couples that were, I don't know,
in the karate community. And she started taking lessons
from Mike Stone, a Hawaiian karate instructor she met in
1972, actually backstage at one of Elvis's concerts, and she
soon soon began an affair with him.
Couple months after this affair started, she said that Elvis
asked to see her in his hotel suite, and she wrote in her
memoir that he forcefully made love to me.
And said this is how a real man makes love to his woman.
But then later Priscilla said she regretted her choice of
words and said that it was an overstatement and said that what
really hurt was that he was not sensitive to me as a woman and
his attempt at reconciliation had come too late, suggesting
that he was deliberately trying to compensate for his lack of
sexual interest. But it was too late.
So basically he was like, oh, you're with another man, like,
let me show you. But, you know, he hadn't been
interested in her sexually in like, years, basically.
So. Wait, but so who did?
Too late? Who did she originally use those
words with? Like the forcibly sexual with
that was in her book Elvis and Me and.
Then she later said that she she said she regretted writing it
that way. Well, yeah.
Because, I mean, it sounds like, you know, the worst that it
could be, like that's that it does is awful.
I know. So she's seeing Mike Stone.
He's kind of doing his thing. He's also deteriorating.
He's on pills and everything, and eventually she told him that
she's leaving him. Leaving Elvis.
Yep, Yep. And he was shocked.
But then eventually he seemed to understand and he agreed to the
separation and Elvis and Priscilla separated on February
24th, 1972, filed for legal separation on July 26th.
And this is 1 nice thing Elvis did.
Well, not the only nice thing, but he to protect Priscilla and
Lisa Marie because whoever filed, I guess their address
would become available on public records.
Oh yeah, so he filed for a divorce to keep them, even
though he didn't want to. But he did it.
And then it was on his 30th birthday, actually.
Oh. Oh wow.
He filed for divorce. That's the least he can do, I
guess. Yeah, I know.
But then, oh, Elvis. Later that month.
Apparently he became paranoid about Mike Stone, the karate
instructor that Lisa left him for, and said he said there's
too much pain in me, Stone must die, but he didn't actually do
anything. They're getting divorced.
Like, what is he like? It's not his place.
I know, I know. I think he's just having an
outburst. But yeah.
Then their divorce was finalized October 9th, 1973.
Their marriage ended after only six years of marriage, but they
they actually ended on good terms.
They left the courthouse walking hand in hand.
Oh wow. And I know, consciously
uncompleting I I had no. Idea.
They were only married for six years.
Like I feel like there's such an iconic couple in history.
I know, that's crazy. I also thought that I was so
ignorant I thought they were married for 20 years or
something like years. Until like like, I mean, they
didn't date for a long time, but yeah, and they they did keep in
touch. They always talked and he would
still spend time with Lisa Marie and when they were together as a
family, they would still be arm in arm like they were.
One of those really feel good. Separated families.
But he died only like Lisa Marie was like a very young child when
he died, right? Yes.
So she, you know, she was with Mike Stone.
After the divorce, Elvis started seeing somebody else.
He started seeing the actress Sheila Ryan.
And I thought it was interesting.
I have another clip to send you. Elvis was doing a show 1974, so
this would be like a year after their divorce, and he called out
Priscilla and Lisa Marie and his new girlfriend oh during the
show. I want us.
I want to make one thing clear. Let me make something clear.
I've been singing that song for a long, just a minute here.
I've been singing that song for a long time and a lot of people
kind of got it associated with me because I think it's a
personal name. It is not.
It's a beautiful song written by Marty Robbins.
And I heard Frankie Lane do it. I think it was.
And I just love the song and has nothing to do with me personally
or my my, my ex-wife, Priscilla. She's right here.
I need to stand up. Come out, Johnny.
Come out. Come on out.
Turn around and let them see you.
Let them see you. Well, she's she's she's a
beautiful chick. And I'll tell you for sure, boy.
Well, I, I, I know that when I picked someone, you know.
God damn. Now show up.
My little daughter, Lisa, she's six years old.
Look at her. Jump up.
Pull your dress down, Lisa. You pull your dress down where
you jump up like that again, young lady.
And then at the same boat as my girlfriend, Sheila.
Sign up, Sheila. Turn around.
Completely around, Sheila.
Straight up. Hold the ring up.
Hold the ring up the ring your right hand.
Look at that son of a bitch. Now the thing I'm trying to get
across is we're the very best of friends, and we always have
been. Our divorce came about not
because of another man or another woman, but because of
the circumstances involving my career.
I was travelling too much. I was gone too much.
And it was just an agreement that I didn't think it was fair
to her because I was gone so much and and everything.
So I therefore as decently as you can do that type of thing.
We just made an agreement to her to always be friends and be
close and care because we have a daughter to raise.
He's such an over share. Oh my God, he did over.
Imagine being at that concert. That would be so exciting.
Actually, yeah. Whoa.
You know, we broke up. But also be wait, what's the new
girlfriend's name? Sheila.
Yeah. And are they engaged at this
time? I don't think so.
Why was he like the ring? The ring.
Show them the ring. I know, I know.
I don't know. I don't think it's just a ring.
Yes, so that's weird. So.
I imagine being hurt at this concert.
And he's like, we broke up just because of schedules.
Like, you know, we're still best friends.
Like, oh God. So he, you know, he's doing all
his Vegas residency shows over and over and over and over
again. And his mental health was
horrible. He's all bloated from drugs.
He's totally being taken advantage of of by the Colonel's
just kind of like, you know, every night put out on stage and
he was really going downhill. And it's sad, like Elvis
actually said to a friend that he wished he could walk away
from his life, but he couldn't because too many people depended
on. And oddly, Priscilla and Elvis
still talked about maybe their time would be someday some other
time. They said stuff like that all
the time. But when he was 42 years old, on
August 16th, 1977, Elvis died of a heart attack likely brought on
by his addiction to barbiturates, which also is what
likely killed Marilyn Monroe. So.
Yeah, terrible, terrible addiction.
Priscilla in her book was super confused and it almost seemed
like she was questioning his death and she was like it didn't
make sense. He was rarely left alone.
Like how could this have happened?
I mean, she didn't have any other explanation, but she
seemed like unable to believe it.
She she was actually devastated to hear that Elvis had died,
like she was in total shock. He was still a central part of
her life and Lisa Marie was only nine years old.
Oh, that's so that's so tragic. Yeah, and that the girl and
Margaret that X. She attended the funeral with
her husband. Priscilla said she actually felt
a bond with her and didn't feel resentful anymore.
Yeah, Priscilla in her book, said that she had heard that
Elvis's mood was down and that he at this point was dating
somebody else. Ginger Alden, and he'd been
contemplating breaking up with her.
They talked about it, but the last very last time she talked
to him on the phone, she said that he was in pretty high
spirits and was laughing and she thought he was going to be OK,
but it's a total shock. So Elvis was gone.
Elvis. Elvis had officially left the
building and. Oh God, she she she had had a
lot of other relationships after after the divorce and after he
died. Yeah, she even dated Robert
Kardashian, right? She did.
She did, yes. Oh, my gosh.
I mean, she, she's still alive. So, like, she's had a lot of
relationships. She dated A photographer, Terry
O'Neill. Yeah.
She dated Robert Kardashian. She dated A hairdresser, Eli
Serzer, another guy, like so many people, Richard Gere.
But for 22 years, she was with someone named Marco Antenna,
Antonio Garcia. And she did have a son with him.
So that was a significant relationship in her life.
And Priscilla, really, you know, she she did grow into herself.
I think she started acting. She was in Naked Gun, the movies
and on the hit TV show Dallas. That's good.
But weirdly, after Elvis's death, she got into Scientology.
Oh, I didn't know that me. Yep, she might still be in it.
I was reading articles that said that she had left it, but then I
read articles said no, she's still in it.
So I feel a little suspicious of her 'cause right after Lisa
Marie died, I remember seeing articles that she was like suing
in order to get like the inheritance or whatever.
Like, rather than Lisa Marie's kids getting the inheritance.
Yeah, I don't know how to feel about Priscilla because
listening to her read her memoir, I thought she seemed so
sweet and I felt very fond of her hearing her younger story.
But I do think that she is a little money driven.
And one other thing about that is that after her and Elvis
divorce, she changed her name back to Bollier, but then she
changed it back to Presley. Oh.
Wow. And when she was trying to get
control over Graceland and people thought that was
suspicious because it's like, OK, you're just trying to do
that because it makes you have a connection to Elvis and.
Yeah, you know, you change your name, especially like, you might
think like, oh, it's because, you know, she wants to be close
with her daughter, but she had a son, like another son from a
different relationship. So yeah, she did successfully
turn Graceland into big tourist attraction.
Like she she kind of is responsible for that.
But I know, I know, she is a little bit opportunistic to be
opportunistic. Yeah, I do have a clip I want to
show you. I know this is getting really
long, but just to hear Priscilla, she talked to Barbara
Walters about her book Elvis and Me.
Elvis's way of of dealing with problems were not confronting
the problems and if there was a problem, he would buy.
Or to make it all right and go right for you.
Make it better. He'd buy you a gift.
He would leave you. He would go off to make
pictures. He would go off to Las Vegas.
And you heard about other women. How'd you feel?
What'd you do about it? I felt horrible.
It was almost a part of it was the fear that I had, too.
I didn't want him to leave my sight.
I wanted to be with him. Because if I left him again,
that fear always came in. I'm going to lose him.
You wrote in your book that one of your greatest worries was
about his Co star Ann Margaret. Yes, that's true.
I knew there was a fair an affair.
And if you confronted him, if I confronted him, you'd deny it.
I'll get mad. Well, that's usually what
happens when you're caught. So you live with that?
Yes. You wrote all of his controlled
your looks, your clothes, your hair, your makeup.
He controlled you totally. Is that accurate?
I was definitely under a spell of of what I thought was love.
And I I had to take responsibility for that too.
But you were 1617 years old. But what did I know?
I knew nothing else. I had nothing else.
I had. I had no experience, not even in
life, but with other people. And even though he wanted you
virginal and pure, he dressed you sequin.
Shiny material, low cut. Slid up the side.
Why? I think maybe it was his way of
showing sophistication. I maybe.
Maybe making me appear older. I don't know.
There's some kind of a an appeal that men like with a trashy kind
of look. Maybe that's what turned him on.
Six years you lived there before he decided to marry you.
In those six years of sleeping with him every night, he never
had intercourse with you. You wrote in your book that
there were times when you begged him.
I even wrote it down. You said I'm a woman who needs
to Make Love to feel desired by her man.
Please don't make me beg six years of Priscilla.
Why? Well.
Again, you know, I can only go back to what his concept was as
what he wanted in a woman and somewhere he along in his past
he said that he wanted a virgin. That is really sad, but I feel
like Barbara Walters is like what Diane Sawyer wishes she
was. Yeah, I know.
She was grilling her, though. Yeah, not in a bad way.
But it's it's less like, scary. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's not. Yeah, it's not as scary.
Something about it does feel cozier.
Yeah, it's interesting that, I mean, that was 1985, but
Priscilla, throughout that whole interview, she is very
sympathetic to Elvis. But Barbara, the whole time is
like saying the things that we're saying, like your parents
let you do. That he did what?
Like she's incredulous about it. And Priscilla in this calm voice
is like, well. Priscilla.
Really. She was so beautiful.
Oh my gosh, she's so beautiful. Insane.
It's like, it's, it is. I remember the first time I
heard of you, Priscilla, was, I was, I must have been like seven
or eight or something. And I saw her on the news and I
remember hearing that she was 60 years old, but she looked about
30 years old like and obviously she's had plastic surgery, but
like, it was so high opening to me that someone of that age
could looks like as young as she did.
I know. I was looking at pictures of her
and Elvis earlier and some of the pictures, she really looked
like a Barbie to me. Like, I just.
I couldn't believe it. I was like, wait, it's like, is
that real? What the heck?
Yeah. It's like, you know, she's
human, but yeah, she's she's still with us.
Lisa Marie, sadly, is not. But Priscilla is the grandmother
to four and great has great grandchild.
Because Riley, how do you say her last name?
Kia. I think Kia.
Yeah, Riley Kia. Her granddaughter recently had a
daughter, so. She's great, She's a great
grandmother. And coming out soon is the movie
about her, Priscilla, directed by Sofia Coppola.
Which crazy enough. Sofia Coppola's cousin is
Nicolas Cage, who was married to Lisa Murray.
Oh my God, her cousin. And I'm.
I'm intrigued to see this movie and see how accurate it is and
you know. I had no idea that everything's
in there. I didn't know that Nicolas Cage
and Lisa Murray were married. That's crazy.
We're gonna have to cover them someday.
So many. There's so many people.
And I I would actually like to learn more about Elvis and and
Margaret. So maybe someday I was actually
going to do that originally because my dad suggested it, but
then I learned that, well, he knew Priscilla first, so I feel
like I should do Priscilla first.
Yeah, but that is like that relationship that's in the
wings, you know what I mean? And like, he always, like, kept
her waiting, probably. And she's always the other
woman. But oh wow.
I have to say, after all of this, like I thought I was going
to be a little bit more sympathetic to Elvis, but I'm
actually less Oh no, but I hope my research didn't.
Skew No, no, no, no. I mean it's like it's just
objectively, it's like objectively pretty bad for him.
But but I it's a it's complicated because there's so
many different things like he was also at the same time being
taken advantage of and. Yeah, gosh, it's very troubled.
And it is interesting like I was listening to, well, because I
went basically to the same place two weekends a row.
I went to like the Vermont, New Hampshire line.
It's like 2 hours away. So I drove like 8 hours
recently. So I was listening to a lot of
Elvis stuff while I was driving and I was listening to a lot of
Elvis experts. And it's interesting.
It's like a lot of them are obsessed with Elvis.
You know, they like some people have dedicated their lives to
research Elvis and interview people and stuff, but they 100%
acknowledge all his flaws and how problematic he could be.
So he's a very interesting person, but he definitely did
people dirty too. Wow.
That was a riveting episode. Kelly, thank you so much.
I'm the edge of my seat. So who who we talk about next
week, next week, next week? We are talking about another
historical couple. We've had a couple in a row now
and one of the people is also known for their big hair.
OK. And the couple is also known for
people that know known for having issues in the bedroom as
well. What I.
Don't that's. All I'll say.
OK, I don't. Know if I know that one, but I'm
excited about that. All right.
Well, thank you guys. Do you have anything else to
add, Kel? No, that's it.
Thank you so much for listening and we'll get back together next
week. Is your heart filled with pain?
Shall I Come Back Again? 10 Medium.