Priscilla Presley, 77, was married to Elvis for six years in one of the most famous couplings of all time. They met when she was very young, and even though her father didn’t like the idea of her dating the legendary singer, love simply wouldn’t allow them to remain apart.
After she and Elvis divorced – and after “The King” tragically passed away – Priscilla went on to create a business empire, becoming a very successful businesswoman. Over the years, she’s also endured some rough times, including one recent failed plastic surgery procedure.
So how did she meet Elvis? And what is she doing today? Here’s all you need to know about Priscilla Presley …
Priscilla Presley was born on May 1, 1967 in Brooklyn, New York, to parents Ann Iversen and Joseph P. Beaulieu. Her father was a Lieutenant in the United States Air Force, which meant that he was transferred to different places all the time. When Priscilla was ten, her family moved to Austin, Texas. Four years later, Priscilla and her family moved to Wiesbaden, Germany.
For Priscilla, moving to a new part of the world must have been extraordinary. More significantly, it was there that she met Elvis for the first time.
Now, the city of Bad Nauheim is located not far from Weisbaddeen. Bad Nauheim was where draftee Elvis Presley was serving in the United States Army’s 3rd Armored Division. Elvis was 25 at the time; Priscilla just 14.
About a week and a half after Priscilla arrived in Germany, she ate at a place known for its military personnel customers. Out of the blue, another customer suddenly asked her if she wanted to meet Elvis. She thought it was a joke, but the stranger didn’t mess around.
“For my so-called date with Elvis, I didn’t dress up; I just wore a little sailor dress, because I still didn’t believe it. And the next thing I knew I was on my way to Elvis’ house, which he shared with his father, Vernon Presley,” Priscilla recalled.
“Three or four of Elvis’ friends were with their dates, and a couple of girls dropped by. It was a very casual evening – a family atmosphere. Elvis was sitting in a chair when I arrived and he got up and shook my hand. Then reality hit me, and I thought, ‘What am I doing here?”
One might have thought that Priscilla’s parents would be over the moon about the prospect of their daughter meeting Elvis. However, that was not the case.
In a small piece for The Guardian, Presley wrote that her parents weren’t happy at all, especially not her father.
“My parents said that I shouldn’t date Elvis”
“But no one in the family expected things to turn out the way they did. A married couple with two children who were friends with Elvis took me to meet him on that first occasion and I couldn’t not go, as it was an amazing opportunity,” she wrote.
“It was the equivalent of a 14-year-old today being given the chance to meet Justin Bieber. The second time I met him, Elvis played the piano and we listened to records and it was all really, really innocent. When he invited me back again, my father said, ‘Why does he want to see you?’”
Of course, Priscilla was underage at the time; a decade Elvis’s junior. It was a lot for her parents – hardly convinced about the idea of her daughter dating a man that was so much older – to take in. Priscilla’s dad arranged a meeting between himself, Elvis, and Elvis’ father to talk more about the two love birds and what the plan for the future was.
“He arrived in his BMW wearing his Army uniform to impress dad,” Priscilla recalled in an interview with People in 1985.
Elvis succeeded in impressing her father, and the two started dating soon thereafter.
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