Priscilla Presley moved into Elvis Presley’s house when she was a high school student. She bounced between Graceland and his home in Bel Air. The latter was exciting for her parents. When they left Germany, where they’d been living, they moved to Sacramento. This meant that they could see her more often. For Priscilla, their move to Sacramento was anxiety-inducing, as she didn’t want them to know the truth about her living situation with Elvis. She had to rearrange the house when they finally convinced her to let them visit.
Priscilla Presley rearranged the bedrooms at Elvis’ house in Bel Air
When Priscilla and Elvis stayed at the Bel Air home, she tried to keep her parents away from the house. After a while, though, they finally persuaded her to let them drive her home after a visit. She felt a grim obligation to invite them to dinner. This meant she had to move fast when she got to the house.
“I ran into the house in a panic because I knew I’d have to show them around,” she wrote in her book Elvis and Me. “I certainly couldn’t tell my parents that I slept with Elvis, and I decided to try to fool them into believing that I had my own room.”
She frantically asked employee Charlie Hodge if she could use his room and began dragging her belongings down the hall. She placed her perfume on the table, put her clothes in the closet, and threw stuffed animals on the bed. After dinner, she took them on a tour of the house and hoped they wouldn’t examine Elvis’ room too closely.
“I opened the door to his room, praying that no one would want to see any of his huge walk-in closets because if they opened the closet door, all of my things would be revealed,” she wrote. “One of my shoes, I noticed in horror, had been left next to the bed. I managed to kick it out of sight.”
She noted that while her parents didn’t question the setup, she wasn’t sure they believed it.
She didn’t feel like she’d gotten away with anything with her parents
While the evening didn’t end in angry accusations about the sleeping situations, Priscilla didn’t think she could let her guard down.
“I continued to guard my lifestyle,” she wrote. “I was always afraid they’d look too closely at my relationship with Elvis.”
They didn’t understand Elvis’ intentions for Priscilla and wanted her to move back home with them.
“‘How much longer is this going to go on like this?’ they wanted to know. ‘What are his intentions? Are there any plans for anything? If not, why don’t you just pack your bags and come home? We think it’s about time.’”
Priscilla continued to insist that all was well between her and Elvis. She had no desire to move home.
Priscilla Presley initially wasn’t supposed to be living in the same house as Elvis
When Priscilla first moved to Memphis to be with Elvis, she was supposed to be living with his father, Vernon, and his wife, Dee. Her parents did not want the teenage Priscilla living under the same roof as Elvis, who was 10 years her senior. It didn’t take long for her to move into Graceland, though.
“Living with Vernon and Dee was also difficult,” she wrote. “I felt out of place in their home, and did not want to be an intrusion in their personal life. I began spending more time with Grandma at Graceland, often staying all night, and gradually, almost unnoticed, I began to move in my things. By the time Elvis suggested that I move into Graceland, I already had.”
