Priscilla Presley Shared Why She Felt ‘Torn’ Between Elvis and Lisa Marie Presley
Not long after Priscilla and Elvis Presley got married, Priscilla gave birth to their first child, Lisa Marie Presley. Elvis was excited but nervous to be a father. Soon, though, his work began taking him away from home for long stretches at a time. When he returned home, he seemed unsure how to adjust to fatherhood. Priscilla struggled to adjust as well. She knew her daughter needed quality time with her parents, but Priscilla wanted to spend time with Elvis.
Priscilla Presley struggled to balance her time with Elvis and Lisa Marie Presley
While Elvis had excitedly prepared for fatherhood during Priscilla’s pregnancy, after Lisa Marie’s birth, he made it clear that his wife was to be the primary caregiver. Priscilla raised Lisa Marie but eventually realized she wasn’t spending enough time with her daughter.
As the Presley family posed for a portrait, Lisa Marie began to cry. No matter what they did to make her laugh, she continued to weep.
“That’s when it hit me. My God, she’s so attached to the nurse that she doesn’t want to leave her,” Priscilla wrote in her book Elvis and Me. “Now I knew I had to find more time to be with her. She had been affected by my own predicament. Busy centering my life around Elvis, even during his absences, I had neglected not only my needs but my daughter’s as well.”
Priscilla explained that when Elvis was home, she struggled to find a balance for her family.
“I was torn between the two of them,” she wrote. “When he was home I wanted to be with him, without other responsibilities, but I also wanted to be with Lisa, knowing how much she needed me.”
Priscilla Presley tried to keep Elvis up to date with Lisa Marie Presley’s development
Ultimately, the times when Priscilla felt torn between her husband and daughter were few and far between. Elvis was frequently away from home. Priscilla worked to keep him up to date with Lisa Marie’s growth.
“When Elvis was away from home, which unfortunately was most of the time in those days, I continued to dispatch my regular care packages full of pictures and home movies documenting every inch of Lisa’s growth,” she wrote. “When he was with us, I encouraged him to participate in Easter egg hunts and other outings, inviting Joe [Esposito], Joanie, their children, and other family friends to join us.”
She also took Lisa Marie to Las Vegas, where Elvis played residencies, so that she could spend her birthdays with her father.
The couple had different ideas of how to raise their daughter
During Priscilla and Elvis’ marriage, she took primary responsibility for raising Lisa Marie. After their divorce, they each took different approaches to parenting. Priscilla constantly worried that Elvis spoiled Lisa Marie.
“Her daddy handed everything over to her on the proverbial silver platter, which created conflict when she’d come home and have to deal with reality,” she wrote. “We had a running debate on how she was to be raised.”
Priscilla also had major problems with the fact that Elvis wasn’t always honest with her about how he was raising Lisa Marie. She would call at one in the morning to make sure Lisa Marie was in bed. Elvis would tell her she was, only for Priscilla to find out later that their daughter had still been awake. While the couple wanted to remain friendly for the sake of their daughter, this made it difficult.
