Priscilla Presley has said that she and Elvis were “in line in thought” despite their 10-year age gap when they first met.
The business owner was just 14 years old when she met the “Jailhouse Rock” singer, then 24, in Germany in 1959.
Elvis was serving in the US Army at the time, with the pair marrying seven years later in 1967 when she was 21. They separated in 1972 and divorced the following year.
Their relationship is now the subject of Priscilla, Sofia Coppola’s new biopic, which stars Cailee Spainee and Jacob Elordi as the young couple.
The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Monday (4 September), with Priscilla, 78, speaking at the press conference after the film.
During the event, Priscilla admitted that it had been “very difficult to sit and watch a film about you, about your life, about your love”.
However, she insisted that Elvis never took advantage of her, despite her young age when they met.
“It was very difficult for my parents to understand that Elvis would be so interested in me and why,” she said, via Variety. “And I really do think [it was] because I was more of a listener.
Elvis (left) pictured in Germany around the time he met Priscilla— (Getty Images)
“Elvis would pour his heart out to me in every way in Germany: 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. That was really our connection.”
She continued: “Even though I was 14, I was actually a little bit older in life – not in numbers. That was the attraction. People think, ‘Oh, it was sex.’ No, it wasn’t. I never had sex with him. He was very kind, very soft, very loving, but he also respected the fact I was only 14 years old. We were more in line in thought, and that was our relationship.”
Priscilla has previously claimed that she and Elvis never had sex until their wedding night.
Speaking at the conference, Priscilla explained that she “never, ever, ever told anyone that I was seeing him” when she was in school. “So, we built a relationship and then our relationship went on until I left,” she said.
“It wasn’t because I didn’t love him – he was the love of my life. It was the lifestyle that was so difficult for me, and I think any woman can relate to that. But it didn’t mar our relationship, we still remained very close… It was like we never left each other.”
Priscilla is released in cinemas in the US on 27 October and the UK on 1 January 2024.
