Introduction
In a bombshell confession that has left fans reeling, Priscilla Presley has laid bare the painful truth about her marriage to Elvis Presley — including his alleged infidelities at their glamorous second home in Palm Springs.
During a candid appearance on NBC’s “Today” show, the now-80-year-old widow of the King of Rock ’n’ Roll stunned viewers by describing the double life she claims Elvis was living.
“Our lives were so different, you know? Very, very different,” Priscilla admitted, promoting her explosive new memoir, Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis. “When he was in Vegas, that’s when his career really started up again, and I would check on the house in Palm Springs. I wanted to make sure everything was clean, that the staff had prepared it before he came home.”
But what she discovered there was far from tidy.
According to Priscilla, women would visit the Palm Springs home while Elvis was performing in Las Vegas — a secret she says haunted their marriage.
“They would come to see Elvis at the house on weekends when he was away. That was another life,” she explained. “And then, of course, he would return home looking perfect, still a good husband. But there were too many of us in the marriage.”
The Beginning of a Fairytale — and Its Cracks
Priscilla first met Elvis in 1959 when she was just 14 years old and he was stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army. Their whirlwind romance captured headlines, culminating in a lavish Las Vegas wedding in 1967. A year later, the couple welcomed their only daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, who tragically passed away in 2023 at just 54.
By 1972, the cracks had deepened beyond repair. Priscilla filed for divorce, finalized in 1973, though she insists her decision was never about falling out of love.
“I didn’t divorce him because I didn’t love him,” she told a journalist in 2016. “He truly was the love of my life. If anything, I left because I needed to see the world.”
Dangerous Jealousy and a Midnight Call
In her memoir, Priscilla also recalls her fiery relationship with attorney Robert Kardashian, father of Kim, Khloé, and Kourtney. The two rekindled their romance in 1975 after her split from Elvis. But even then, the King’s shadow loomed.
She describes a chilling moment when Elvis allegedly phoned her in the middle of the night, while Kardashian was lying beside her.
“He would have gone crazy — literally — if he knew Robert was in my bedroom,” Priscilla wrote. “Elvis always carried a loaded gun, sometimes more than one.”
A close friend of the Presleys, who asked not to be named, confirmed to reporters that Elvis’s jealousy was notorious.
“Elvis could be sweet one moment and suspicious the next,” the friend revealed. “He lived with paranoia. If he thought someone was taking Priscilla away, he wouldn’t hesitate to confront it head-on.”
Life After the King
Though Priscilla never remarried after Elvis’s untimely death in 1977 at just 42, she did go on to have a son, Navarone Garibaldi, with longtime partner Marco Garibaldi. Still, she has never denied the lifelong hold Elvis had on her heart.
Her memoir even takes aim at the controversial marriage between Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson, accusing the pop icon of manipulating her daughter.
“I knew in my heart that Michael didn’t marry Lisa for Lisa,” Priscilla declared. “He married into the Presley dynasty. Michael was manipulative, and I believe he had his eyes on her long before she realized it.”
The Scandal That Won’t Die
Decades after his death, Elvis Presley’s private life continues to shock, fascinate, and divide fans. Priscilla’s latest revelations reopen old wounds — and stir up fresh controversy over the King’s darker side.
With her memoir promising even more revelations, one burning question remains: how much of the legend we worshiped was a carefully staged illusion?