Priscilla is a beautiful, intelligent, loving, and caring woman and her book is a MUST READ for every Elvis Presley Fan. Priscilla began by detailing every harrowing encounter in her memoir Elvis and Me and began by admitting that she was wrapped around his finger.

I have read two other Elvis biographies, and as dreadful as all of this sounds, the other authors were less gentle. In fact, this is part of Priscilla’s stated reason for deciding to tell her own story. I mean, you lived his life. You saw the movies he wanted to see. You listened to the music he wanted to listen to. You’d go to places that he would go… I honestly didn’t have my own life. … So I really kind of lost myself.” Elvis Presley’s ex-wife Priscilla Presley recently shed light on her past relationship with the signer in a new memoir and even went into candid details about the good and the bad. Priscilla also writes of other times she became suspicious of Elvis' faithfulness. One such time was when Elvis released " (Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame", Priscilla wondered at that time if Elvis was dating a girl named Donna Marie. [ citation needed] The Ann-Margret affair [ edit ] He also gives her drugs, mostly sleeping pills, and at one point gives her enough that she overdoses and doesn't wake up for two whole days. At this point she is 16 and he is 26. At other times he is physically violent towards her, punching/hitting her in the side of the head so hard that her eye bruises and another time throwing a chair at her. His anger issues are a huge problem in not just their relationship but Elvis's relationship with everyone, they all seem to be afraid of him. Finally, she describes him as being a master of manipulation who can easily control everyone around him and their emotions.The version of Priscilla Presley who lingers in pop culture—dark eyeliner, teased hair, immaculate gowns—is the primary one we see in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, played by Olivia DeJonge and seen primarily as a witness to the central drama between Elvis and Colonel Tom Parker. The bulk of their relationship took place in the 1960s, a period skimmed over by a montage. However after reading this book I have to say I have little respect for the man. Good singer or no, he had the morals of a hyena.

Elvis was a very complex man and this book displays more than any other media I’ve come across what a problematic man he was. The age gap, his manipulation, and all the infidelity are so clearly stated in here, yet I’m surprised how casual Priscilla is about it and that the book ends on such a positive note regarding that. I would’ve wanted even more reflections from her side how she believes that this has affected her life and her personality. Or perhaps she had not even worked through that by the time she wrote the book. Has she even by now? Also, I think Linda Thompson was on to something when she told Elvis that he "should have married a southerner"... and Elvis even agreed with Linda on that one.Priscilla LOVED Elvis and within a year (i.e. 9 months to the day of their marriage) she was raising their daughter...Lisa Marie. The days of traveling off to Las Vegas, or Hawaii, "unplanned" were over. However, Elvis' desire to travel "spur of the moment" remained "alive and well". This was a difficult read in how it explores the details of how Elvis groomed and manipulated a young child (actively being failed by her parents) into marrying him. Even more difficult is the denial Priscilla lived in at the time of writing this memoir 38 years ago. Priscilla also describes several episodes involving Elvis' explosive temper and his jealous nature; including the time he went into a rage and threatened to fire a male employee ( Memphis Mafia member Jerry Schilling), who supposedly acted too "friendly" with Priscilla. While Elvis was spiraling downward, working like a dog in Vegas and not around anymore that is when Priscilla started finding her own strength, style and voice, especially through karate and dance.

Priscilla Presley admits she had two affairs of her own, and the up and down marriage was irreparably broken down by 1972. The last straw for Priscilla came when Elvis, possibly having learned of the second affair with her karate instructor Mike Stone, raped her in his Las Vegas hotel room, telling her, "This is how a real man makes love to a woman." Also during this time, Elvis considered hiring a hit man to kill Stone, but ultimately didn't follow through. Is no one going to talk about the fact that Elvis was giving Priscilla drugs?! A 14 year old? And basically OD’d her at 16?! K, what????!!! Priscilla writes that it was years later before she realized his tactics were part of a need to control her. This pattern began before they were married, but in her 2005 made-for-television documentary titled Elvis by the Presleys, she admitted he had affairs with other women during their marriage. According to her account, Elvis told Priscilla that they had to wait until they were married before having sex. He said, "I'm not saying we can't do other things. It's just the actual encounter. I want to save it." Priscilla adds, "Fearful of not pleasing him—of destroying my image as his little girl—I resigned myself to the long wait. Instead of consummating our love in the usual way, he began teaching me other means of pleasing him. We had a strong connection, much of it sexual. The two of us created some exciting and wild times." His desire for her was not only one heavily rooted in pedophilia, but also what appears to be a fantasy of incest in calling her “his little girl” and pushing for her to make physical changes that would result in a physical resemblance between the two of them. He didn’t just groom this little girl to be his ideal partner, but a daughter he could share a bed with and it’s nauseating.I posted some pics along with my review on IG if you’re so inclined 😃 - I just love the old pictures. They go hand in hand with my general nosiness. In her memoir, she even admitted that she was not allowed to cut her hair without his permission because “men like long hair.” The very next line of Priscilla's book says that after the Ann-Margret ordeal she soon suspected there were other women. She began traveling with him but says she would still "get crazed with worry." She was afraid that the moment she was away from him, another woman could slip in. Priscilla relates how her insecurities would lead her to imitate the other woman's appearance (changing her clothes, hairstyle and makeup), to hopefully please him.

In a televised interview on January 14, 2005, with Larry King on CNN's Larry King Live, Anita Wood said that following media reports of a girlfriend in Germany, Elvis "had me believing that she (Priscilla) was just a friend and her daddy was in the Army with him, and there was nothing to it whatsoever." PDF / EPUB File Name: Elvis_by_the_Presleys_-_The_Presleys.pdf, Elvis_by_the_Presleys_-_The_Presleys.epub I was fortunate to have experienced this book on audio, delightfully read by Priscilla Presley herself. This was a real treat. I don't think I could have enjoyed an audio version if she hadn't given it the personal touch and authenticity by reading it herself. She genuinely laughed recounting many stories, and transformed her voice when narrating dialogue from other characters in Elvis's circle (her experience as an actress helped here, I imagine).

Success!

I think Priscilla was a victim, a groomed child; that Elvis was toxic, verbally abusive, gaslighting, possessive, controlling and that eeeveryone around them, especially Priscilla’s *parents* should have seen and *acted on* all those red effing flags 🚩 for their 14 year old child! Who am I to say if the love was real… but I have a hard time grappling with the fact that it was allowed to happen. That no one stepped in. Sorry, but I DONT believe they waited for marriage to do the ol’ hanky-panky. The song " Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode (#368 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" [4]) was inspired by Elvis and Me. [5] Elvis’s blatant manipulation… lord, girl, RUN “He was truly a master at manipulating people.” If that isn’t cringe, I don’t know what is.