The “Jailhouse Rock" singer’s widow also detailed his infidelity and the difficulties in their seven-year marriage
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Priscilla Presley is reflecting on the good and bad times with her husband, Elvis Presley.
During an event featuring the actress titled ‘An Evening with Priscilla Presley’ event at Foxwoods in Mashantucket, Connecticut, on Saturday, she detailed possible infidelity on the rock and roll icon’s part.
"Whether he was going on tour or going to Palm Springs or Vegas, obviously I know there are other things going on as well," Presley said, per People.
Presley revealed that she discovered a letter for her husband at the couple’s mailbox from someone saying they were having "the best time" with him on the road.
Priscilla Presley shared at a recent event that she knew there were "other things going on" when Elvis was on tour. (Gisela Schober/Getty Images)
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"When I found that letter, it just ate me up," she said. "I just couldn’t let it go so I called Elvis in Vegas, [road manager] Joe Esposito answered the phone and I said `Joe, I need to talk to Elvis please’. He said `He’s sleeping, what do you need? Is everything OK?' I said `No, not really. I just really need to talk to him.’"
After she explained to Esposito that she had found a letter, Elvis called her back and asked if she had been "snooping" on him, which she denied, pointing to the fact the letters arrived in their mailbox.
"That was the beginning," she said of difficulties in their relationship. "He wasn’t happy about that, but I wasn’t happy either. That made me realize that things go on. Listen, there was him and four or five of his guys who were always together, so they’re men, right? And they were all married and they were all fooling around."
She continued, noting the "opportunities were there constantly" while Elvis was on the road.
Presley said "opportunities were there constantly" for affairs while Elvis was on the road. (Bettmann/Getty Images)
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"And don’t get me wrong. I've never not loved Elvis, like, to this day. He was an amazing human being. He had a big heart, but, unfortunately, he was Elvis Presley and every woman, every girl went after him. I can see being him, how he would take it," she added.
One specific woman, actress Anita Wood, came up in Presley’s conversation. According to People, Wood and Elvis had been dating before his military service that stationed him in Germany, where he met Presley when she was 14.
Presley said when she found "a pile of letters" from Wood, she was "hurt."
"God, is this still going on and what am I doing here? So I asked Elvis about her and he asked how I knew about her and I said well 'Hello, I can read.' And he said she’s a really good friend and 'Yes, I care for her, but I realized that I’m not in love with her.' I was like, 'OK, that’s an awful lot of letters,' so I was concerned about Anita," the "Naked Gun" star said.
In the early part of their relationship, Presley said she wondered if Elvis was still seeing an actress named Anita Wood, who he had been dating before they met. (Getty Images)
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She continued, "I thought when he went back to the States he would see her again and surely he did because it was in the paper, she was there waiting for him, and that bothers me a lot."
During the interview, Presley also shared her first impressions of the "Heartbreak Hotel" singer.
She recalled being told not to watch him on TV for being "vulgar and disgusting" but she snuck a peek through "the crack of a door" to watch him on "The Ed Sullivan Show."
"And I thought 'Boy, who was this guy?' He was so gorgeous and the way he moved — of course he got criticized for how his movements were and it was vulgar, and, oh my God, the news was just going ballistic," she said.
Presley recalled seeing Elvis on "The Ed Sullivan" show, saying, He was so gorgeous and the way he moved — of course he got criticized for how his movements were and it was vulgar, and, oh my God, the news was just going ballistic." (Steve Oroz/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
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The "vulgar" description came up again in a different context, when she saw a picture in a magazine of Elvis signing a fan’s breast.
"When she opened up the magazine, it had Elvis signing his autograph on a woman’s breast. So I was so disgusted," the 78-year-old said. "I was like 'Oh my God that is so terrible, that’s so vulgar, I can’t believe it.'"
Presley and Elvis married in 1967 and welcomed their only child, daughter Lisa Marie, in 1968. They divorced in 1973, and Elvis died in 1977.
Sadly, Lisa Marie died in 2023 at age 54 due to a small bowel obstruction, a complication resulting from bariatric surgery she had years ago.
