Elvis’ Maid Found Him Sobbing The Night Before His Wedding – Then He Uttered Five Concerning Words

Ahead of tying the knot with Priscilla Beaulieu, Elvis Presley spun into an emotional frenzy. But the King of Rock and Roll wasn’t overwhelmed by feelings of joy; instead, he was consumed by anguish. And it led to a shocking scene in the hours before the ceremony, though the truth didn't come out until years later. At his lowest point, the music legend uttered a truly startling sentence to his housekeeper — one that shed new light on his entire life.

An unconventional wedding

Despite all that, though, the wedding did go ahead as planned. Mind you, compared to other celebrity unions at the time, this one proved to be a quieter affair. Pretty surprising, isn't it, considering that this ceremony was for none other than the King of Rock and Roll? Well, it turned out that there was a good reason behind the low-key event.

Heading to Vegas

To kick things off, the guests boarded a couple of planes in Palm Springs, California, in the early hours of the morning. They then flew to Nevada, before traveling to one of Las Vegas’ municipal buildings. While there, Elvis and Priscilla picked up a marriage license. Their timing, however, was odd.

Short and sweet

That happened at around 3:30 a.m. on May 1, 1967 — on a Monday, no less. We imagine there were quite a few tired eyes in the background of that altar. As for the wedding itself, Elvis and Priscilla said their "I do's" at 9 a.m. Incredibly, they were married in less than ten minutes!

An impressive reception

Anyway, the afterparty was a bit flashier in comparison, as attendees were treated to a vast breakfast banquet. And the choice of food — from southern fried chicken to Oysters Rockefeller — was absolutely eye-popping. In total, the reception reportedly cost roughly $10,000 to put together, while the wedding cake alone set Priscilla and Elvis back over $3,000.

Elvis’ inner struggles

So, regardless of how unconventional it all was, the wedding proved to be quite the event in the end. Yet did any of the guests pick up on the apparent emotional turmoil Elvis was going through? And come to think of it, what prompted those feelings in the first place?

The first meeting

Well, the couple's relationship had changed quite a bit since 1959. That’s the year when Elvis was first introduced to a young Priscilla Beaulieu. They crossed paths in Germany, where Priscilla's father was stationed on an American Air Force base. And things were a bit complicated even at the start.

Age gap

At that point in time, Priscilla was 14 — exactly a decade younger than Elvis. Despite the age gap, the pair still hit it off in Germany and stayed in contact by telephone once the singer went back to America. Packing her bags for Graceland a couple of years later, Priscilla eventually joined the music superstar.

Colonel Parker

But certain people within Elvis’ inner circle were really troubled by that decision, including his manager. Yes, Colonel Tom Parker had some major concerns regarding the age gap, as he feared it could have a detrimental impact on his client’s image. Alanna Nash, a journalist who’s an expert on the legend’s life, went into more detail.

“The Colonel lost his mind”

Nash told the Daily Express, “In the American South at that time, it wasn’t that unusual for a man of [Elvis’] age to date a girl of [Priscilla’s] age. [But] when Priscilla moved into Graceland, the Colonel lost his mind. It hadn’t been that long since Jerry Lee Lewis married his under-age cousin — and people went crazy.” Presley's wily manager wasn't going to let his client sabotage his popularity.

Staying quiet

To be blunt, the Colonel didn’t want Elvis to go public with the romance. For one thing, a quiet split would keep his reputation intact with fans who were bound to disapprove. The singer’s image as an unattached icon could stay the same, too.

The knock-on effect

Yet that decision ultimately caused a few wrinkles in Elvis’ love life. You see, as Priscilla continued to hang around Graceland out of the public eye, her famous boyfriend started to form other romantic relationships. His time in Hollywood was particularly problematic in that respect.

Making moves

According to the Daily Express, Elvis made a habit of sweet-talking some of the actresses he worked with on his movies. The versatile star attempted to capture their hearts by pledging himself to them and suggesting they could tie the knot. Talk about bold moves! But how did Priscilla feel about all this?

The proposal

It couldn’t have been easy. Still, the pair stayed together, and they reached a huge milestone in the winter of 1966. With Christmas on the way, Elvis gave Priscilla the best present she could’ve asked for. Yep, the King of Rock and Roll popped the question. As big as that moment was, though, there was something to remember about Elvis' loyalties.

Meet Gladys Presley

As Priscilla and others fell for the musician’s charm throughout the years, his undying love already belonged to a different woman. The lady in question? One Gladys Presley — his beloved mother. Their bond, going far beyond the typical parent-child relationship, was practically unbreakable.

Why so close?

At the time of Elvis’ birth, he was expected to be joined by a twin brother in the delivery room. But sadly, the baby was stillborn. That hit Gladys hard. So, the new mom poured everything she had into caring for her surviving son. She even said, “When one twin died, the one that lived got all the strength of both.”

Coded “baby talk”

Elvis reciprocated that love, and then some, as he got older. The pair often spoke in a code that only they could understand and lavished each other with cutesy nicknames. In fact, the music icon tapped into “baby talk” well into his adult years while chatting with Gladys.

Vernon Presley

Not even Elvis’ dad, Vernon Presley, could breach their closed-off relationship at home. It’s said that Gladys’ tight-knit bond with her son really took shape while Vernon served out a prison sentence. And as a result, he struggled to find a way back into the inner circle. That led to a weird dynamic.

“An outsider”

Elvis' earliest girlfriend shed some light on just how strange the Presley household was. Dixie Locke said, “It was like [Vernon] was an outsider, he wasn’t really part of Elvis and Mrs. Presley’s group. I mean, it sounds weird, but they had such love and respect for each other, and I don’t think there was a lot of respect for [him]. It was almost like Elvis was the father, and his dad was just the little boy.”

Gladys’ death

That’s an eye-opening statement. And on top of that, insiders have claimed that Elvis idolized Gladys above everyone else, from pals to romantic partners. So it’s unsurprising to hear that the King was left utterly devastated when she passed away in 1958.

The eve of the wedding

But was the loss of his mother still haunting Elvis almost a decade later? The trailblazer was certainly in a bit of a sorry state on the eve of his wedding. And one woman claimed that the legend spilled his guts about what was driving him up the wall.

The woman who found him

The staff member who stumbled upon Elvis in this emotional stupor was Alberta Holman, who was a longtime chef and caretaker for the Presley clan. And much like the singer, Alberta had a tight relationship with Gladys while she was alive. Perhaps that explains why she was among Elvis' most trusted workers!

Doubts

Plus, her history may shed some light as to why Elvis chose to confide in Alberta when she checked on him. Alberta claimed that the star was in tears over the prospect of getting married, and that led her to ask a big question. If Elvis wasn’t sure about it, couldn’t he call it all off?

“I don’t have a choice”

At that point, Elvis is said to have responded, “I don’t have a choice.” Surely someone with as much power and influence as this man could dictate if and when he wanted to get hitched? Yet the singer's life was more complicated than most people could have imagined.

Lack of control

You see, there were a number of moving parts here that played into Elvis’ predicament. We’ll start with his age and Colonel Parker. Alanna Nash went into more detail during her chat with the Daily Express in September 2021. She said, “Elvis was getting older, [so] it was time for him to settle down and get married.” That was the tip of the iceberg.

Studio contract

“Another reason that the Colonel was eager to get Elvis settled and married was that there was a morals clause in his contract with the studios,” Nash continued. “And of course, Elvis was being Elvis and violating that clause all the time.” Regardless of the Colonel’s hopes, though, he didn’t just want his client to marry anyone.

The Ann-Margret problem

So, that brings us to the next issue. Remember what we said about Elvis’ attempts to woo the actresses working on his movies? Well, things apparently got serious between the King of Rock and Roll and Ann-Margret. The pair met while shooting the 1964 classic Viva Las Vegas.

Retaining influence

Elvis was so smitten with Ann-Margret that he pushed the Colonel to represent her, too. However, his manager didn’t like that idea... at all. In fact, he feared that the actress may undermine his control over the musical sensation. Parker was terrified of losing his spot in the inner circle.

“He might dump Priscilla”

That wasn't the only danger, though. Nash revealed, “Elvis was hot and heavy with Ann-Margret, and it looked like he might dump Priscilla to end up with her. The Colonel was very worried about that.” So, the manager tried to nip that relationship in the bud, despite his mixed feelings about Elvis' romance with Priscilla.

Master puppeteer

What did the Colonel do, then? Well, a number of years later, Priscilla provided an answer to that question in an interview with Barbara Walters. And it became clear that Elvis’ advisor was a master puppeteer of sorts, forcing Priscilla and Elvis into a decision that would change their lives.

“Get married or go on”

Priscilla told Walters, “I think the pressure [to get married] was on somewhat. We’d been together [for] six years, [and] the relationship was going well. The suggestion I think came from Colonel Parker. [He said], ‘Either you should get married or go on. If you’re not getting married, then what are you doing?’”

The heat was on

With those manipulative traits, the Colonel wouldn’t have looked out of place in an episode of Game of Thrones! Mind you, the “pressure” wasn’t just coming from his end. Elvis was feeling some heat from another party as well — one with whom Priscilla was very familiar.

Making a deal

We’re talking about her dad. Now, back in the early days of the relationship, Elvis apparently struck up a deal of sorts with Priscilla’s parents. Once Priscilla turned 15, the couple gave her the green light to travel to the States. But her mom and dad had a few conditions.

The terms

To start with, Priscilla’s folks forbade her from leaving Elvis’ home city of Memphis, Tennessee. They also stipulated that the pair couldn’t live under the same roof. And the couple were adamant that their daughter should continue with her school studies. The singer agreed to the terms, so over Priscilla went.

A father’s fury

There was just one problem, though: some of those terms were violated pretty quickly after Priscilla's arrival. And with seemingly no marriage on the horizon as the years went on, her dad was becoming more and more furious with Elvis. He feared that his daughter would be dumped if he didn't turn up the pressure.

Another problem

So, Elvis really was being backed into a corner. Then again, there was another issue at play across this period. It went back to the icon’s relationship with his beloved mom, which colored his view of all other women. Nash offered this insight while speaking to the Daily Express.

“Mold into the image of Gladys”

“Elvis was always looking for that young girl he could mold into the image of Gladys, who had died when he was in the army,” Nash said. “In a way, he dressed young women to resemble her. He picked out their clothes. Priscilla was perfect.” If that wasn’t enough, he also started to look at her in the same light as his mom.

Taking the leap

It begs the question: did Elvis really want to tie the knot with someone who held that kind of position in his mind? It must’ve felt odd! Yet, as we all know, he ultimately went through with it. Following the tumultuous wedding, the King and his queen became proud parents in February 1968. It seemed like a fairy tale come true.

How it unraveled

Yes, Lisa Marie Presley was welcomed into the world. But sadly for Priscilla, she believed that that happy moment actually kick-started the fall of the marriage, which ended in 1973. Why? Well, up until the wedding, Elvis was reluctant to share a bed with his future wife for unusual reasons.

“He was a father to me”

Allegedly, Elvis wanted to preserve Priscilla's “purity.” After they got together and Priscilla became pregnant, though, Elvis seemingly couldn’t handle the change. As she told Walters, “Elvis had a hard time dealing with me being a mother and the little girl that I was to him. I didn’t know it then, but that’s what I realized in later years — he was a father to me.” No wonder he was so reluctant to marry her. And Priscilla felt the consequences of being married to the world's biggest star right away.

Controlling Priscilla’s life

“He was very opinionated on what he wanted. ‘I don’t like you in that color. Brown isn’t good for you. Green looks horrible, it’s a dull color with no spark to it,’” Priscilla recalled of her relationship with Elvis. Her role in Elvis’ life was entirely dictated by the musician, and Priscilla’s lack of control became overwhelming for her.

A tough position

Priscilla was in a precarious position. After all, her husband was older and had more clout than her. That gave her little power in her own home. She didn’t have as much life experience as her partner, making her extremely vulnerable to Elvis’ whims. This treatment put tremendous pressure on the young housewife, so she tried to be as attentive to him as she could.

Sexist beliefs

One of Elvis’ beliefs was that a wife shouldn’t interfere in her husband’s friendships. And Elvis was incredibly close with the Memphis Mafia — the nickname for his friend group — so Priscilla wanted to get on their good side. She hosted a dinner at Graceland, inviting several “mafia” members.

Lasagna fight

Priscilla decided to cook lasagna, which Elvis loved. Elvis’ road manager, an Italian American man named Joe Esposito, often teased Priscilla about how she couldn’t make a better lasagna than him. But instead of laughing Joe off, Priscilla’s anxiety ratcheted to a new level. Still young and inexperienced, she didn’t know the first thing about making lasagna.

Dinner time

Finally, it was the night of the lasagna dinner. Priscilla nervously made the layered pasta dish while continually calling her mom for advice. In the end, the meal looked presentable. She brought it to a table full of Elvis’ friends and cut into the lasagna she’d worked so diligently to complete.

Crunch!

“I sat down, smiled anxiously, and said, ‘Please start,’” Priscilla wrote in Elvis and Me. “We all took a bit and — crunch. There was a look of shock on everyone’s face. I looked at my plate and was mortified when I realized I had forgotten to boil the pasta.”

A kind move

Priscilla felt her eyes fill with tears. “Elvis began laughing, but when he saw I was about to cry he turned to his plate and began eating — uncooked noodles and all,” Priscilla said. Elvis wasn’t always kind to Priscilla, but he did have a soft spot for her. And for Priscilla, this incident was only one anxiety-filled moment of many during her time at Graceland.

Dependent on pills

During this period, Elvis was reportedly taking drugs on a regular basis. Priscilla noted in People, “It took [him] at least two to three hours to wake up fully. He was groggy and irritable from the sleeping pills, which were causing him to sleep as many as 14 hours a day. It seemed only natural for him to take some Dexedrine to wake up.”

Normalizing the addiction

And Priscilla went on to reveal that she had used drugs alongside him, adding, “I began taking sleeping pills and diet pills, too. Two Placidyls for him, and one for me. A Dexedrine for him, and one for me. Eventually, Elvis’ consumption of pills seemed as normal to me as watching him eat a pound of bacon with his Spanish omelet.”

Shooting his TV

But despite his bad habits, Priscilla loved her husband. Elvis could be incredibly charming and was a gifted performer. He also had a temper. He held his .357 Magnum gun in his mansion and once shot it at his TV when he heard something he didn’t like. It was terrifying for Priscilla.

Desperate moves

On top of it all, Priscilla was pretty sure that her husband was cheating on her continuously. Whenever Elvis was linked with another girl, then, she would try changing her hairstyle and clothes to match the other woman. Desperate to remain at the forefront of Elvis’ affections, Priscilla also began accompanying him on his travels.

Moments of good

But although the relationship between Elvis and Priscilla doesn’t appear to have been a healthy one, there were nevertheless moments of intimacy between the pair. At night time, you see, Elvis would apparently reveal his innermost thoughts to Priscilla.

Taking in Elvis

Priscilla wrote for People, “Each night that I was with [Elvis], he entrusted a little more of himself – his doubts, his secrets, and his frustrations. It was a lot to expect someone my age to understand, but I tried. I listened to his desires to become a great actor like his idols Marlon Brando, James Dean, Karl Malden and Rod Steiger.”

Being the ideal

Priscilla went on, “He would describe his ideal woman and tell me how perfectly I fit this image. He liked soft-spoken brunettes with blue eyes. He wanted to mold me to his opinions and preferences. Fidelity was very important to him – especially on the woman’s part.” Back at Graceland, however, Elvis’ staggering expectations became too much for Priscilla to bear.

Trapped in a mansion

She found herself trapped inside Graceland with an increasingly erratic husband. “We didn’t go out,” Priscilla said. “He didn’t like eating in restaurants because people would take pictures of him and he didn’t want to be shot putting a fork in his mouth.” Eventually, Priscilla found some solace by taking karate lessons per Elvis’ suggestion.

Surprise affair

During those lessons, Priscilla did more than learn karate: she had an affair with her instructor, Mike Stone. When Elvis found out, he didn't get angry. Instead, he blamed himself. Knowing they both had contributed to the failure of their marriage, the couple amicably divorced — but Elvis was still angry at one person.

“Stone must die”

“There’s too much pain in me. Stone must die,” Elvis allegedly said. He was so riled up about Stone’s role in the affair that according to some accounts, Elvis’ physician couldn’t calm him down, even after prescribing large doses of medication. At the time, Mike and Priscilla were dating, and Elvis couldn’t stand it.

Revenge against Mike

At the height of his fury, Elvis allegedly began plotting to hire someone to kill Mike. Instead, he changed his mind. This was never confirmed, and Mike remains alive and active in martial arts. Elvis and Priscilla’s bond, however, proved itself to be stronger than divorce (and rumored death threats).

Mixed feelings

When looking back on her life with Elvis, Priscilla seems to have mixed feelings – particularly in regards to the “molding” part of their romance. In 1995 she told McCall’s, “I looked down at these clunky platform heels, and I thought, ‘My God, if Elvis ever saw these things, I don’t think I’d ever live to hear the end of it.’ He would have gone on and on about how ugly they were and told me to change them.”

Writing a memoir

Furthermore, in her explosive 1985 biography Elvis and Me, Priscilla claimed that Elvis had probably had a need to control her. The book explains, too, that the star’s ex-wife had been “fearful of not pleasing him [and] of destroying [her] image as his little girl.” And the biography itself saw some success, as it was actually made into a television film in 1988.

Looking back now

But, of course, plenty of time has passed since then – enough to give Priscilla further perspective on her life with the King. And in 2015 the actress would speak further on the matter with British TV host Jonathan Ross, saying, “You start losing yourself and who you are. And people always wanted to know... about him, and I do understand it a lot better now than when I was younger.”

Feeling lost

Elvis’ one-time wife went on, “I was kind of lost, really, in who I was earlier in my life. I really didn’t have teenage years. I learnt so much about [Elvis] and was with him so much that I thought the way he did. I knew what he liked [and] what he didn’t like; I knew his thoughts. I knew everything as far as you could possibly do when you live together at such a young age.”

Living in a bubble

And in a 2016 interview on the U.K. TV show Loose Women, Priscilla went further into depth. Her life with Elvis had been quite a closed one, she said. Not only did they hardly ever go out to eat — hence Priscilla’s disastrous early attempt at cooking — but they didn’t really go out, period. “We literally lived in a bubble.”

Everything Elvis

Priscilla added, “I didn’t have my teenage years as a normal girl, obviously, so I had to adapt, and I guess I did adapt. I just sort of followed what [Elvis] did. I mean, you lived his life; you honestly didn’t have your own life. You lived his life, you saw the movies he wanted to see, you listened to the music he listened to, you go to places that he would go. So you really kind of lost yourself.”

No free will

And with regards to the other people she had had in her life at the time, Priscilla explained, “I was with his friends, and I was with the wives of his friends. They were pretty much chosen for me… It was lonely, and I didn’t have any information of what was going on with my age group.”

Finding independence

Naturally, then, life without Elvis took a bit of getting used to. Priscilla went on, “It was a journey. I’ve never had therapy, but it was quite a journey. I didn’t sign a check [until] I was 29 years old… Everything was there for me. But it was as a woman, I didn’t really know who I was… My considerations were his considerations, my fears were his fears, my likes were his likes.”

Leaving for herself

Priscilla added that it had taken her until she was 27 years old – the age she had been when she had split with Elvis – to finally gain a sense of self. She told the panel on Loose Women, “I did not divorce him because I didn’t love him. He was the love of my life, truly. If anything, I left because – and I still loved him – I needed to find out what the world was like, really.”

The love was real

The actress also claimed, “The greatest thing about our relationship was that we still loved each other.” And yet, she revealed, throughout all her time with Elvis, she had “always had a little bit of make-up. He never wanted to see me getting dressed, he wanted to see the end result.”

Echoes of Elvis

Though Priscilla was subjected to harsh treatment by Elvis, she remembers fondly the time they spent together at Graceland. “When I go to Graceland, my gosh, I can walk in that door and see him walking down the stairs, I can hear laughter, I can hear the music playing in the music room,” Priscila said. “It’s a very surreal feeling. But it’s not scary, it’s beautiful.”