Outwardly, the marriage of Elvis Presley and his wife Priscilla appeared picture-perfect. The couple was together for eight years before tying the knot in 1967. However, behind closed doors, Elvis and Priscilla faced difficulties. Many of these were related to Elvis’ relationship with his friends and members of the Memphis Mafia. One of Elvis closest friends, Joe Esposito, admits this was one of the key reasons his marriage to Priscilla broke down: “We weren’t good boys.”
Joe Esposito spilled the beans on Elvis and Priscilla Presley’s marriage in 2002
In an interview with Larry King, Joe Esposito pulled back the curtain on the private life of Elvis and Priscilla Presley. Esposito said the couple’s difficulties lay at the feet of the king of rock and roll.
King asked Esposito about Elvis and Priscilla’s marriage. He replied that many factors contributed to their split. However, one key element was the behavior of Elvis and his close friends.
“Was that a happy marriage for a while?” King asked Esposito. He replied that he thought so and didn’t think the 10-year age difference between the couple contributed to their eventual split.
He believed that the overall behavior of the Memphis Mafia had something to do with the couple’s separation. Esposito said to King, “We were not good boys.”
He elaborated further, “Loved his buddies around because he didn’t have any friends when he was a kid. Because he was the weird kid. He had very few friends.”
Esposito spoke of Elvis’ infidelities within his marriage. “He just did it. The problem is we all did it, too. I got divorced, too, about the same time he did.”
“We all say she must know what’s happening but probably never admitted it. She probably didn’t want to admit it, to realize it. But she put up for a long time, and then she stopped putting up with it. That’s why they got divorced,” Esposito deduced.
The couple divorced in 1973
Although they greatly loved each other, Elvis’ infidelities and the couple’s separation due to the king’s heavy touring schedule led to their split. They were married eight years by the time they legally ended their union in 1973.
Rumors of Elvis’ affairs with Nancy Sinatra, Ann-Margret, Cybill Shepherd, and others dotted their relationship. “My life was his life,” Priscilla told People Magazine in 1978. “My problems were secondary.” Still unfulfilled, she had an affair with her karate instructor, Mike Stone.
Priscilla gave birth to their daughter Lisa Marie Presley in May 1968. However, it was reported that Elvis was reluctant to have physical relations with his wife after she’d gone through childbirth.
In her 1985 memoir, Elvis and Me, Priscilla wrote that her previously passionate sex life with Elvis quickly stopped. He told her he wanted her to have time to recover, but, as Priscilla later wrote, “He had mentioned before we were married that he had never been able to make love to a woman who’d had a child.”
Priscilla later explained in a 2016 interview, “I did not divorce him because I didn’t love him. He was the love of my life, but I had to find out about the world.” The couple’s split was finalized in 1973.
Priscilla Presley remains an integral part of Elvis Presley’s legacy
Elvis and Priscilla Presley shared joint custody of Lisa Marie Presley, their only daughter. After Elvis’ 1977 death, Priscilla remained close to her father-in-law Vernon Presley.
Vernon was his son’s estate executor, and Lisa Marie was his sole heir. After Vernon’s death, in his will, he passed the responsibility of maintaining Elvis’ assets to Priscilla and Joseph A. Hanks, along with the National Bank of Commerce in Memphis.
In 1979, Priscilla realized that without drastic action, everything Elvis Presley had left their daughter, Lisa Marie, could have been lost. Even his beloved home, Graceland. Under her guidance, along with other business advisors, she opened up Graceland to tourists in July 1982.
The idea was hugely successful. Graceland estate and its subsequent tourist hub, which includes displays of priceless artifacts and even a hotel, currently earns around $15M annually.
In January 2022, Priscilla and Elvis’ daughter, Lisa Marie, died. Weeks later, Priscilla questioned the validity of Lisa Marie’s will after learning it named her eldest daughter Riley Keough, the estate beneficiary.
On May 16, Priscilla and Riley settled. They plan to file a motion to seal the settlement agreement.
Elements of this story were first reported by CNN and Elvis.com.au.
