Priscilla Presley Said Elvis Was ‘Deliberately Self-Destructive’: ‘I’ll Never Make It Much Beyond 40’
Even after Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley divorced, they remained fixtures in one another’s lives. Priscilla still tracked Elvis’ career, and what she saw concerned her. After experiencing a thrilling revival in the early 1970s, his career slumped again, and this time, he didn’t seem interested in revitalizing it. Priscilla worried that Elvis had begun to deliberately sabotage himself.
Priscilla Presley worried Elvis was sabotaging his health
While Elvis loved performing, he wanted his career to evolve as he aged. He told Priscilla that he didn’t want to be “a forty-year-old man still shaking to ‘Hound Dog.'” Still, he had few opportunities to diversify his work. His manager, Colonel Tom Parker, limited his film opportunities, notably turning down a chance for Elvis to appear in A Star Is Born.
The musician grew increasingly despondent, which concerned Priscilla. She had seen him grow frustrated with his career before, but this seemed different.
“In time, it became evident that he was letting his health go,” she wrote in her book Elvis and Me. “His behavior at times was deliberately self-destructive. On a few occasions he’d say, ‘I’ll never make it much beyond forty.’ We’ve all made such statements, but with Elvis the thought was deep-seated and chronic.”
Elvis’ mother had died at 42, and Elvis seemed to think he would follow a similar path. He also thought it would be best if he died before his father did so he wouldn’t have to deal with the loss.
Everyone in the musician’s life began to worry about him
Priscilla had long worried about Elvis, but the concern spread to the people around him, too. It became impossible to ignore the fact that Elvis was struggling.
“By 1976, everyone was becoming alarmed over his mental state as well as his physical appearance,” Priscilla wrote. “His face was bloated, his body unnaturally heavy. The more people tried to talk to him about this, the more insistent he became that everything was all right.”
All of Elvis’ bad habits worsened, and his worries intensified. This began to impact his work, as he would cancel performances or behave erratically onstage.
Priscilla Presley said Elvis’ fans never doubted him
While the people in Elvis’ life worried about him, his fans continued to give him their unwavering support. Even as his performances weakened, they applauded him.
“No matter what he did, his fans still cheered him on,” Priscilla wrote. “They were faithful to him through good performances and bad, and eventually their love was the only real gratification he received. They endorsed everything he did.”
Despite the loyalty of his dedicated fans, it was clear to everyone in Elvis’ life that he had to make major changes or his career would collapse entirely.
“Maybe as long as he was getting their cheers, he thought he was doing fine,” he wrote. “But in fact, Colonel Parker was right when he told Elvis that he’d better get himself straightened out or his whole career would go down the drain.”
