ENTERTAINMENTPriscilla Presley Admits She Felt 'Free' After Split From Late Husband Elvis: 'I Catered to Everything'
Priscilla Presley got real about how relieved she felt to split from ex-husband Elvis.
Sept. 22 2025, Published 12:54 p.m. ET
Priscilla Presley loved her late husband, Elvis, but she was thankful to break away.
In a Monday, September 22, appearance on TODAY With Jenna & Friends, the 80-year-old reflected on how it felt to separate from her lover in 1973.
Priscilla is opening up like never before about her relationship with the late rock star in her new memoir, Softly as I Leave You: Life After Elvis, and the corresponding media surrounding the release.
Priscilla Presley just released a new memoir.
Host Jenna Bush Hager asked her what it felt like to lead a life independent from the superstar's influence.
"I don't want this to be taken wrong, but it was freedom for me," Priscilla confessed. "Freedom, because it was Elvis' life, and I catered to everything. I'm his life...and what his obligations were. I lived with six other guys, and I was the only woman at that time."
Priscilla Presley was married to Elvis for six years.
Even when Priscilla started dating again, she and her ex-husband of six years would talk on the phone.
"I would call him about certain things...our daughter," explained Priscilla, who shared Lisa Marie with the "Burning Love" singer. "We had really good, honest conversations. It kind of broke the ice of being his wife that we talked and shared things. It was actually better than being married."
She never remarried, but it wasn't because of Elvis, who died from a heart attack in 1977.
"I just couldn't find anyone," Priscilla stated bluntly.
- Priscilla Presley Reveals Elvis 'Forced Himself' on Her After Finding Out She Was Having an Affair: 'An Unhappy Memory'
- Priscilla Presley 'Never Wanted to Marry Anyone' Other Than Elvis: 'No One Could Ever Match Him'
- Priscilla Presley Insists She Didn't Get Intimate With Elvis at 14 Years Old: 'He Was Very Kind'
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Priscilla Presley Was Protective Over Daughter Lisa Marie
Priscilla and Elvis Presley shared a daughter.
The businesswoman went on to detail her relationship with Lisa Marie, who passed away after a small bowel obstruction following bariatric surgery led to cardiac arrest in 2023.
"She was my only daughter, and I really doted over her," she said. "Even with her friends, I was cautious about who she would hang out with and who she would get information from. She always liked older boys...so did I. Probably from that, I was nervous about her being free and on her own. But she just had a mind of her own and really wanted to go out and experience the world. I had to give her a lot of that [while] being a mother concerned."
Priscilla Presley Reacts to 'Elvis' Movie
Priscilla Presley thought Austin Butler did Elvis justice in the biopic.
The 2022 Elvis movie brought the mother-daughter duo closer together as they bonded over their shared past.
"Austin [Butler] did an amazing job. I have to give that to him. Lisa and I were both concerned how that was going to turn out, how the movie was going to turn out, and we both became friends," Priscilla recounted. "She adored Austin. He was such a nice guy, and still is, obviously. He was just right on. He did two years of studying."
The mom added, "[The film] opened the door again for these younger generations to know who Elvis Presley is."
