When 24-year-old Elvis Presley met Priscilla in 1959. Elvis was 24, Priscilla Beaulieu in 1959 Germany, she was only 14 years old. In her memoir Elvis and Me (affiliate link*) Priscilla describes in detail how her relationship with the older man began.
Baz Luhrman’s Elvia movie jumps right into Priscilla and Elvis hanging out in his room while he was stationed in the military in Germany without any explanation. The film immediately established that all they do is talk and listen to music when they spend time together.
Priscilla herself has insisted that she and Elvis did not get intimate until their wedding night in 1967 when she was 21 years old. She’s gone on to say that their sex life was short-lived and lasted only until she got pregnant with their daughter Lisa Marie.
“I was beginning to doubt my own sexuality as a woman,” Priscilla wrote about this time. “My physical and emotional needs were unfulfilled.”
But back to how they met. Elvis was serving time in Germany for the Army at the time, while Priscilla’s dad was stationed in the Air Force. The family had been uprooted from Austin, TX, and Priscilla felt alienated from the other kids and didn’t know their language.
Priscilla didn’t initially meet Elvis, she was scouted out for him while she was having an after-school snack at the Eagles Club, where American services families frequented. Elvis’ friend Currie Grant spotted her and invited her to meet with Elvis.
He later met with Priscilla’s parents and promised them that Priscilla would be chaperoned when she met Elvis. The agreed to let their underage daughter go to meet the superstar, who was in his mid-twenties.
That night she went to Elvis’ German house were he was living with his dad Vernon and his grandmother Minnie Mae. His mother Gladys had died when he was in basic training before he made it to Germany.
That night he played piano for Priscilla. Afterwards, he ate five huge bacon sandwiches with mustard his grandmother had cooked up for him.
During their next meeting, Elvis asked Priscilla to sneak up to his room where he would meet her later. He didn’t want to raise suspicious by them both going to his room together. When they talked privately, Elvis opened up to the young girl and cuddled her. He confided in the young girl about his heartbreak over his mother’s death and how he blamed himself for it.
He also complained about his father’s girlfriend Dee, who he felt started dating his dad way too soon after his mother’s death. Before she left that second meeting, Elvis kissed her goodnight, which was her very first kiss. The Elvis movie also depicts their first kiss.
Although Elvis didn’t have sex with Priscilla when she was underage, he immediately got both physically and emotionally close to her. He was open about touching her and dumping all of his grown-up problems on her.
In 1999, Priscilla spoke to Larry King about dating Elvis when she was only 14, and having him pour out all his problems and grievances to her listening ear. She says that she wasn’t ready at the time for something serious, and her family convinced her that he was serious about her.
When Elvis met Priscilla’s family, he won them over with his respectful behavior and charm. He told them that he considered Priscilla to be “mature for her age” and made an emotional connection with them by painting himself as a very lonely man who finally had a connection with someone. It’s common for older men grooming young women to ingratiate themselves with her family, who may then fall in love with the man too.
On May 1, 1967, Elvis and Priscilla Ann married at the Aladdin hotel in Las Vegas.
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