The relationship dynamic between Elvis and his wife, Priscilla Presley, has been brought once again to significant audience focus with the release of Priscilla, an American drama based on the 1985 memoir Elvis and Me. The duo was one of the most famous couples in Hollywood back then and the most scrutinized one over the years because of their vast age gap. So, if you want to know about Elvis Presley’s wife’s age gap with her husband, you have arrived at the right place.
Elvis Presley’s Wife’s Age Gap
Elvis Presley and his wife had an age gap of ten years. Priscilla was only fourteen when she met the legendary singer and her future husband, Elvis, who was twenty-four at their first meeting.
At the premiere of Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla at the Venice Film Festival, Priscilla Presley had to face questions once again about her age gap with her husband, as the drama focuses on Presley’s romance with her late husband.
Moreover, after the premiere, she spoke at a press conference and articulated her thoughts about the controversial age gap between her and Elvis. She told the press that her late husband was “respectful” of it.
She said, “It was very difficult for my parents to understand that Elvis would be so interested in me, and I really do think because I was more of a listener.”
Further clarifying the controversies that always encircled her, Priscilla Presley added, “Elvis would pour his heart out to me—his fears, his hopes, the loss of his mother, which he never ever got over—and I was the person who really, really sat there to listen and to comfort him. I was a little bit older in life than in numbers, and that was the attraction. And you know, people think, Oh, it was s*x… Not at all. I never had s*x with him. He was very kind, very soft, and very loving. But he also respected the fact that I was only 14 years old. We were more in mind and thought. And that was our relationship.”
Interestingly, many people who were unaware of the age gap between the two found it out in Baz Luhrmann’s biographical drama movie “Elvis” in 2022. That was not it; the majority considered it completely inappropriate. However, whether improper or not, they had a thirteen-year relationship until they parted ways in 1972.
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How Did They Meet?
The two met in Germany in 1959, when the singer served in the U.S. Army in West Germany. Elvis met his future wife, Priscilla Beaulieu, at a party in Bad Nauheim, Germany, on September 13, 1959. Priscilla, a ninth-grader, lived there with her whole family because of her stepfather, Air Force Officer Paul Beaulieu, who was also based in Germany due to his transfer, like Elvis himself. The pair reportedly got introduced to each other through a mutual friend of Elvis and Priscilla’s stepfather, Currie Grant.
Additionally, Priscilla, who did not speak German, experienced constant homesickness and loneliness upon arriving in the foreign land. She would listen to U.S. tunes on the jukebox to alleviate her solitude. She was captivated by the Hound Dog singer as soon as she set her eyes on the young man. On the other hand, Elvis saw a striking resemblance between Priscilla and his dead mother when he first met her. That more or less sparked a connection between the two, allowing them to instantly hit it off with one another after their introduction at the party.
After some time, their understanding ultimately led to a six-week-long courtship before Elvis’ return to the United States from Germany. Even after their painful separation in 1960, they remained in touch, utilizing letters after his discharge from the military.
Surprisingly, Elvis already had a girl waiting in the U.S. named Anita Wood. They had been dating each other since 1957. Nonetheless, the relationship between Anita Wood and Elvis Presley ended in 1962 when Wood became suspicious of his love for the teen. Thus, Elvis continued dating Priscilla afterwards because he “thought nothing of their age difference or that Priscilla was so young,” as per Elvis biographer Pepper Ritter.
Priscilla Started Living with Elvis Presley
In 1963, Elvis Presley wanted a seventeen-year-old Priscilla to move to Memphis. He asked her to move in with him so the two could adequately pursue their relationship. The teen was more than willing to take that giant step, but her parents had severe reservations about it. Still, the King of Rock and Roll eventually persuaded the parents to agree. But only when he promised to provide their underage daughter with a top-tier education and complete financial support if she moves in with Elvis.
They also made him agree to a few conditions:
- Priscilla will attend an all-girls Catholic high school to complete her studies.
- She will move in with Elvis’s parents, Vernon and Dee, until Elvis marries her one day.
However, they ignored many rules, as Priscilla was constantly spotted spending time with him in Graceland. She permanently moved in with him at the end of her senior year of high school.
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When Did Elvis and Priscilla Get Married?
After dating for a few years, Elvis Presley married Priscilla at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas in May 1967. It was an eight-minute-long ceremony, which a Nevada Supreme Court justice officiated in the presence of only 14 guests, including Priscilla’s parents and her younger sister, Michelle.
Elvis proposed to Priscilla when she was 22 and he was 32 years old on a Christmas evening in 1966.
Elvis and Priscilla Welcomed Baby Girl
Elvis and Priscilla welcomed their first and only child, Lisa Marie Presley, on February 1, 1968, nine months after the wedding. Their baby girl was born at 5.01 p.m. at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee.
However, Lisa soon started to live with her mother after her parents divorced in October 1973.
The power couple remains in the hearts of many despite a considerable age difference. They got separated, but the love and struggles they endured are still valued. They could not sustain their marriage; however, their relationship epitomized unadulterated love, respect, and mutual understanding.
