Priscilla Presley opens up about Elvis Presley's infidelity: 'It was just too many of us'
Priscilla Presley said she has no regrets about leaving the late King of Rock 'n' Roll Elvis Presley for being unfaithful, though she maintained that he's still the love of her life.
In an interview with TODAY's Savannah Guthrie published on Sept. 22, Priscilla, 80, talked about her new memoir Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis, which will hit the shelves the next day.
"I was his wife, and I learned a lot from him about life, about business, about caring," Priscilla said.
Despite his infidelity, she said that he was "very, very special."
“I never regretted my decision to leave Elvis,” she said. “But I never ceased to mourn it.”
Priscilla noted that her and Elvis' lives were "very different."
"Very, very different. And when he was in Vegas, you know, he was really starting his career back again into Vegas," she said. "We had a home in Palm Springs, a second home and I would go there to check it out when he was in Vegas to see how it's doing. If it's clean, if the maids had cleaned everything before he comes home."
At one point, Priscilla checked the mailbox and saw letters from "all girls."
She began reading them and saw things that she "really disapproved of and didn't like."
"They would go and meet Elvis at the house on weekends when he went, and it was another life," she said. "He would come home great and wonderful. He was still a good husband, but it was just too many of us."
Guthrie also asked whether Priscilla considered reconciling with Elvis when they got older.
"We were close, you know. We talked to each other on the phone a lot," she said. "Those are hopes and dreams. It would have been great if it happened."
"[He is] still the love of my life, absolutely," she added.
Priscilla met Elvis in 1959, when she was 14 and he was 24. They reunited in 1962, and Elvis proposed to her in 1966.
Priscilla and Elvis got married in 1967. They have one child together, Lisa Marie, who died on Jan. 12, 2023, at 54. (She had another child, Navarone Garibaldi Garcia, with computer programmer Marco Garibaldi Garcia.)
Their six-year marriage was on the rocks, with Priscilla having an affair of her own with karate instructor Mike Stone.
Priscilla and Elvis broke up in 1972 and divorced in 1973, four years before his death.
On losing Lisa Marie
In the interview, Priscilla also talked about Lisa Marie's death.
"Oh my gosh. I'm sharing it because it's the first time I ever lost a child," she said. "I have to, obviously, but I don't wish that on anyone."
She said she met with Lisa Marie two days before the tragedy (Golden Globes awards ceremony) and was even talking about the biopic Elvis starring Austin Butler.
"We were a little nervous about how that was gonna turn out," she said. During the event, she recalled Lisa Marie inviting her for drinks, only to complain that her stomach "really, really hurts" minutes later.
Lisa Marie was hospitalized in the morning of Jan. 12 and died later.
Autopsy showed that Lisa Marie died due to a small bowel obstruction, which led to cardiac arrest later on. The County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner’s office said there was no evidence of injury or foul play, and that the manner of death is "deemed natural."
"To this day, I can't get over it, especially having a great night before and then the next day, taken away," she said.
Priscilla said she and Lisa Marie "were really close."
"She was a little spitfire. She made up her own mind," she added.
Priscilla also talked about her grandchild, Lisa Marie's daughter Riley Keough, noting she loves her "to death."
"She's her own person, did her own thing at a very young age," she said.
'Don't believe what you read'
Priscilla commented on her former business partners, Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko, who sued her for fraud, breach of contract, and other civil misdeeds in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
"Don't believe what you read," she said, laughing. "It's going well, I can't complain. I have good people."
"We have an issue, sure, but it's getting resolved," she added.
Kruse and Fialko are seeking at least $50 million (P2.8 billion), according to The New York Post. Kruse, an auctioneer specializing in Elvis memorabilia, and Fialko, a collector of such items, claimed they had worked with Priscilla for years to maximize profits by leveraging her name.
After helping restore her financial stability in November 2023, they claimed that she “abruptly cut ties” with them and withheld compensation from the biopic Priscilla, which was released in September of that year.
They also claimed that Priscilla "rushed to West Hills Hospital and despite Lisa's clear directive to 'prolong her life,' Priscilla pulled the plug within hours of Lisa being admitted."
Priscilla's lawyer, Marty Singer, dismissed their allegations, and Keough "stands behind her grandmother 100%."
Priscilla previously filed a lawsuit against Kruse and others, claiming she was a victim of financial abuse, as they exploited her and stole $1 million (P57.1 million) from her.
