LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Everyone assumed that Elvis Presley was happy to marry Priscilla and were already celebrating the prospect of their union. However, there was something about it that made him unhappy and only his housekeeper, Alberta Holman, knew. She saw him sobbing one day, seemingly having cold feet about his decision to wed Priscilla. According to the biography 'Down at the End of Lonely Street: The Life and Death of Elvis Presley' by Peter Harry Brown and Pat H Broeske, Alberta asked Elvis just before his wedding in 1967 why he didn't just cancel it if it was making him so unhappy, but the King of Rock n' Roll replied, "I don't have a choice", the Express reported.
He ultimately went through with the wedding, and their nuptials took place on May 1, 1967, when the bride was only 21 and her groom was 32. Elvis and Priscilla tied the knot in a private ceremony in Las Vegas, in the company of their loved ones. It was a short ceremony lasting not more than eight minutes, during which the singer expressed his wish to omit the word "obey" from their vows.
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According to the Orlando Sentinel, the famous couple did plan to have babies, but had no idea they would welcome their first child exactly nine months after their wedding. Priscilla was excited to become a mother and broke the news to her husband in the hospital waiting area. "You're going to be a daddy," she told him with her arms wrapped around him. While Elvis was thrilled to learn his wife was pregnant with their baby, his feelings changed shortly after. When Priscilla was seven months pregnant, he shocked her by saying, "It'll be good for the two of us to take a little time off, like a trial separation," as quoted by the Orlando Sentinel. The 'Jailhouse Rock' hitmaker insisted that a lot was going on in his life and that living apart would help him cope with it. Priscilla's world had shattered. The mother-to-be couldn't imaging living away from him, especially since she was heavily pregnant.
The couple, however, ended up living together after their baby was born. Priscilla was rushed to the hospital after experiencing labor pains on February 1, 1968, and the couple welcomed their daughter, Lisa Marie, to the world that day. Priscilla recalled the joy Elvis felt after seeing his beautiful little daughter. The idea of living apart was no longer in discussion as he instantly fell in love with his daughter and kept hugging his wife. "I can't believe that I made part of this beautiful child," he told Priscilla, who confessed how she adored seeing him at ease and enjoying one of the best moments in his life. "The man in my hospital room that day was the man I loved and will always love," she later said.
Things went downhill for the couple after Lisa was born. Priscilla recalled how they began having compatibility issues because Elvis treated her like a little girl who needed him while she was trying to be a mother to their daughter. "Our communication was horrible. It was terrible," she revealed in an interview. Their intimacy also deteriorated towards the end of their marriage. At one point, Priscilla decided she didn't want to live in a marriage without a physical relationship and started dating her karate teacher, Mike Stone. Elvis was furious when he found out about it and threatened to "kill him," albeit he never acted on his emotions. The embattled couple's divorce was finalized on October 9, 1973. However, that did not mark the end of their love. Elvis was reportedly seen after their last court trial singing "I Will Always Love You" to Priscilla and he meant every word he sang.
Most people would cut ties with their exes after a divorce, but Priscilla and Elvis continued to see each other. They would often meet at his place with their only daughter, sharing long hugs like they were still together. The exes spent hours talking on the phone and even after parting ways they shared a close bond, respected one another, and never argued. Elvis tragically died of a heart attack on August 16, 1977. Doctors said it was likely brought on by his addiction to prescription barbiturates, per AmoMama.
