Elvis Presley’s wife Priscilla became almost as well known as The King after his death. In order to make her daughter Lisa Marie’s nest egg as strong as ever, Priscilla made Graceland a tourist attraction for mega fans. But how old was Priscilla when she started dating Elvis Presley?
Priscilla Beaulieu had a huge influence on Elvis in their marriage and bore his only child, Lisa Marie.
Priscilla Ann Wagner was born in May 1945 in Brooklyn, to a Norwegian mother and US navy pilot father.
Her father died when Priscilla was just six months old, and her mother remarried a US Air Force officer Paul Beaulieu within a year, meaning Priscilla took her stepfather’s name.
The family moved around airbases for years, including a short stint in Germany where Priscilla and her family were forced to live in a brothel due to the scarcity of housing at that time.
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The pair met in 1959 while Elvis was stationed in Germany, and Priscilla was just 14 years old.
Elvis had a number of relationships with teenage girls, though biographer Brent D. Taylor said of these relationships: “Elvis’s closest female relationships were usually with young girls of around 13 or 14, ending as they reached late teens.
“He didn’t have sex with these young girls, but had pyjama parties, pillow fights and indulged in ‘girl talk’, just as he did with Gladys.”
In the summer of 1962, after the pair had kept in touch for years, Priscilla parents let her visit Elvis’ home at Graceland for two weeks, and soon enough she was allowed to move to Memphis for good in March 1963.
Priscilla lived in a separate house on the Graceland estate with Elvis’s father and stepmother but eventually began to move her things into Graceland, which was allowed by her parents so long as Elvis agreed to marry her.
In 1966, Elvis proposed, and though there are differing reports about whether this was what Elvis wanted to do, the pair married in Las Vegas on May 1, 1967, and included a huge number of press members.
Priscilla described Elvis as a “passionate man” though she said he was not sexual towards her.
She admitted the pair did not have sex until their wedding night and soon after their marriage, she discovered she was pregnant and was initially upset at the idea of such an early pregnancy given they had not spent a long time together.
Their daughter Lisa Marie was then born nine months later on February 1, 1968, in Memphis.
According to Priscilla, Elvis became fascinated with the occult and addicted to prescription drugs, which she believes changed his personality.
With Elvis regularly away and seeing other women, Priscilla decided to focus on a hobby while she spent time alone.
She began taking karate lessons from Mike Stone, on Elvis’s suggestion, and soon began an affair with him, which seemed to be something Elvis was aware of.
Priscilla also said Elvis changed a great deal during their time together, saying he was no longer “the gentle, understanding man I grew to love”.
The pair separated in February 1972 and divorcing a year and a half later, though according to one biographer, Priscilla’s decision to leave Elvis for her karate teacher left his ego “damaged beyond repair”.
Elvis is reported to have struggled a great deal at this time, even allegedly making inquiries to have Mike Stone killed.
The divorce was finalised in 1973 and the pair attempted to stay close after their divorce, with Priscilla named as one of the executors of his will after his death, which left her ensuring her daughter had a fantastic nest egg in the Graceland property.