- Priscilla Presley revealed she still wears a meaningful and “expensive” piece of jewelry Elvis Presley gifted her, 48 years after his death.
- Priscilla wrote about her subtle nods to her husband in her second memoir, Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis.
- The actress also gave insight into their age-gap relationship and Elvis’s expectations of Priscilla as a Southern housewife.
To put it plainly: Priscilla Presley has lived one eventful life. It’s the kind of life that people make several movies about and write many books about. So, it’s no surprise that the actress, businesswoman, mom, grandmother, great-grandmother, and famed ex-wife of the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, just released her second memoir.
The project, Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis, is full of tender, vulnerable, and intimate stories from Priscilla’s life at Graceland and beyond. It details both the joys and tragedies that have befallen the Presley family tree.
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Even after Priscilla and Elvis divorced in October 1973, following a six-year marriage and the birth of their daughter Lisa Marie, they maintained an amicable, co-parenting relationship. When Elvis passed in 1977, Priscilla dedicated herself to honoring his life. One way in which she does this is by wearing tributes to Elvis, 48 years after his death.
“With me, he was usually gentle and often tender. He was also extremely generous,” Priscilla writes in her book. “He bought me beautiful things, expensive gifts, amazing jewelry. I still wear the diamond cross he gave me. I had much to be grateful for in my marriage.”
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Priscilla revealed this sweet nod in a excerpt that gives fans greater insight into her and Elvis’s marriage dynamic. “Elvis was a Southern man who expected his woman to
be pretty, submissive, and charming. Twenty-four hours a day,” she writes about the common logic behind age-gap relationships like theirs. (Elvis was 10 years older than Priscilla.)
She continues, writing, “The problem, of course, was that as I grew into adulthood, the power imbalance created by the age gap with Elvis remained. It was difficult for us to have a marriage of equals when Elvis was used to being in charge. I did my best to meet all of his expectations… Elvis’s behavior fit the standards of the time. In many ways, he was a good husband. He never abused me, physically or emotionally. Though his temper could be explosive, he rarely exploded at me.”
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Despite her affection for Elvis, Priscilla explains that the dynamic took a toll on her. “But I loved him, and because I did, I strove to be the perfect Southern wife of the era. Eventually, though, the struggle wore me down, and I began to feel like the proverbial bird in a gilded cage.”
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