Elvis Presley Liked to Make People Feel ‘Very Insecure’ as a Power Play
Elvis Presley surrounded himself with people who were willing to do just about anything for him. This was partly because they loved him, partly because he paid them, and partly because he knew how to exercise power over people. His bodyguard said Elvis knew how to get people to bend to his will.
Elvis Presley could make people feel highly uncomfortable
In the early days of Elvis and Priscilla Presley’s relationship, the singer’s entourage recalled hearing an explosive fight between the couple. After a stretch of screaming and crashing furniture, Elvis left his room and informed bodyguard Sonny West that he was kicking Priscilla out.
“We were about three bedrooms away, but you could hear furniture and things falling all over,” West said in the book Elvis: What Happened? by Steve Dunleavy. “Elvis comes out, and he is extremely calm for someone who has been ranting and raving. He said quietly, ‘I just told her to pack all her stuff and get the f*** out.’”
In her book Elvis and Me, Priscilla recalled weeping as she piled her belongings into a suitcase. As she moved to leave, though, Elvis stopped her and said he had never actually intended to kick her out. He thought she just needed someone to “put you in your place.”
Sonny West said this type of power play was typical of Elvis. He often did it to his entourage as well.
“He could make a person feel very insecure with that sort of stuff; he did it with us all the time, making you think that you were not in as tight as you might have thought you were,” West explained. “It was a reverse psychology thing.”
As a result, people hesitated to push back against Elvis.
Priscilla Presley said Elvis was a ‘master of manipulation’
When looking back on this incident, Priscilla thought Elvis did it to keep her under his control. She learned to dance around his moods and do what she thought was necessary to appease him.
“When he was angry, it was like the roar of thunder,” she wrote. “No one could challenge his biting words; we could only wait until the storm passed. When he calmed down, he made excuses — he hadn’t had enough sleep, he had too much sleep, or he hadn’t had his morning coffee yet.”
She believed Elvis had perfected his method of manipulation.
“He’d leave us bewildered and emotionally depleted. There were also times when he would leave us emotionally uplifted,” she explained. “He was truly a master at manipulating people.”
He could also make people feel very good
As Priscilla noted, Elvis could also uplift the people around him. He was funny and endlessly charming, making everyone in his life want to be closer to him. He also relied on expensive gifts as a way to make up for his bouts of anger.
“What do you think I give you guys all these gifts for?” he once asked bodyguard Red West. “It’s to make up for the hell I put you through, for the work you guys do. That’s why I give you these gifts.”
The gifts were so generous, expensive, and unexpected that they often moved people to tears.
