Elvis Did Something ‘Unheard of’ for Priscilla Presley
In the early days of Elvis and Priscilla Presley’s relationship, she wondered where she stood with him. While he treated her lovingly while they were together, she heard endless rumors about his infidelity. When he left Germany, where they met, Priscilla also went for long stretches without hearing from him. She agonized over the distance between them, but Elvis’ entourage said she had no cause for concern. Though Elvis did not remain faithful, it seemed to them that his mind was always on Priscilla.
Elvis did something he never did while pursuing Priscilla Presley
When Elvis returned to the United States after two years in Germany, he began to speak about Priscilla with his friends. They were concerned about her age — Priscilla was 14 when she met the 24-year-old Elvis — but Elvis paid this little mind.
“He had a girlfriend at the time and I won’t mention her name because what Elvis said to us all just might embarrass her,” his bodyguard Red West said in the book Elvis: What Happened? by Steve Dunleavy. “But he said, ‘It’s about time I got a girl who was a bit more sharp.’ We didn’t know what he meant, but after a while he kept on talking about this girl Priscilla he met in Germany after I left. When he told me she wasn’t yet fifteen, I nearly had a heart attack. He assured me that this girl was different, much different from the average Memphis girl, and I was prepared to disbelieve him.”
West said he could tell Elvis’ interest in Priscilla was serious when he wrote her a letter. While he continued to have flings with other women, his attention always returned to Priscilla.
“Elvis started to talk more and more about this girl as the year wore on,” West said. “And I believe he even wrote her a letter, which I can tell you is almost unheard of for Elvis.”
Priscilla Presley said she rarely heard from Elvis after he left Germany
While West saw the letter to Priscilla as a big step for Elvis, their relationship did not seem to be going well from her perspective. She said she hardly ever heard from him.
“I was living in a state of suspended animation, waiting for Elvis’ infrequent calls,” she wrote in her book Elvis and Me. “There was never a pattern to them. He would phone out of the blue after three weeks — or three months. He always did most of the talking, chatting about his current film or his costar.”
She had no sense of whether or not she fit into his life and, as West noted, she had a real reason to worry about Elvis’ fidelity.
“I didn’t know where I stood,” Priscilla wrote. “Time and distance had created doubts and questions; I wanted to ask him, ‘Where do I fit in your life? Or do I?’”
Their relationship moved quickly after she visited him
After months without hearing from Elvis, Priscilla finally got a phone call. Elvis asked her to visit him in Los Angeles. Though her parents were concerned about the trip, they agreed. From this point, their relationship moved quickly.
Elvis asked Priscilla to move to Memphis to finish high school. While her parents initially refused, Priscilla continued to beg them. Eventually, they acquiesced, and Priscilla graduated from high school while living at Graceland. She continued to live with Elvis until their divorce.
