Priscilla Presley Shared How Elvis’ Mom Hurt His Career Even Years After Her Death

Priscilla Presley never met Elvis Presley’s mother, Gladys Presley. From the moment she met her future husband, though, he spoke to her about how much she meant to him. Elvis and Gladys had an extremely close relationship that continued to influence Elvis in the years after his mother’s death. Priscilla believed that some of his mother’s behavior actually hurt Elvis’ career. 

Priscilla Presley believed Elvis’ mom sheltered him too much

In the mid-1970s, the career revival that Elvis had enjoyed in the early half of the decade began to sputter out. He felt bored with the repetitiveness of his career. Elvis tried to breathe life into it by wearing outrageous costumes and joking with the crowd. Anyone in the audience who wanted to see a strong Elvis Presley musical performance left disappointed, though. 

While Priscilla and Elvis were no longer married, she could see this was a problem. So could his manager and the members of his entourage. Whenever they tried to bring this up to Elvis, though, he brushed their concerns aside. Priscilla believed that this was partially because of the way Gladys had raised him.

“But from the beginning Elvis had insisted: ‘I just want to read positive reviews. I don’t want to hear any negativity.’ As a teenager he’d been shielded by Gladys from criticism,” Priscilla wrote in her book Elvis and Me. “When she’d filled her albums and scrapbooks, she’d used only the favorable clippings.”

It’s not surprising that Gladys did not want to put negative reviews in scrapbooks. Still, Priscilla did not think she should have done so much to protect Elvis. Even years after her death, he was unwilling to accept even constructive criticism. This ultimately hurt his career.

“If he hadn’t been so sheltered, he might have had a better perspective on his career,” Priscilla wrote. “At least he’d have been aware of what was being written about him and possibly used some of the comments constructively.”

The musician and his mother were extremely close

Elvis and his mother had a uniquely close relationship during her lifetime. He never spent a night away from home before fame and even slept in his parent’s bed long after childhood. 

While Priscilla was the only woman Elvis ever married, she didn’t consider herself the love of his life; she thought his mother had filled that role. The mother and son even believed they shared a psychic connection.

“He told me of the time his car caught on fire while on the road and he barely escaped with his life,” Priscilla wrote. “Although she was miles away, Gladys sat straight up in her bed and screamed his name — the intuitive link between them was that strong. Her concern for his welfare while he was away from home was so great that she would spend sleepless nights until his call came, telling her he was safe.”

Priscilla Presley wished she could have met Elvis’ mother

Not long after Elvis and Priscilla met, he expressed his sadness that Gladys would never meet his new girlfriend.

“He held me closely, saying, ‘I just wish Mama could have been here to meet you.’ He sighed and a troubled look came over his face. ‘She would have liked you as much as I do.'”

Priscilla also wished she could have met Gladys. When she moved into Graceland, she sifted through Gladys’ belongings in the attic and mourned her.

“Life could be so different if Gladys were here, I thought, weeping as though she were my own mother,” she wrote. “I felt Gladys’ presence in that little room, also her grief and loneliness.”