Priscilla Presley Life with Elvis

Priscilla Presley – Priscilla Presley Life with Elvis -The REAL Truth about how Priscilla & Elvis met in Germany. Airman first class, Currie Grant was based in Wiesbaden, West Germany when on November 1959 introduced 24-year-old Elvis to 14-year-old Priscilla Ann Beaulieu. While serving in Germany Grant ran a weekly variety show for the Air Force as well as being involved in the Eagles’ Club, a military club in downtown Wiesbaden

Priscilla & Elvis in Germany

Priscilla Age 14

Several years ago Grant was writing a book to be titled, Elvis and Priscilla and according to his version of the story Priscilla sought him out at the Eagle’s Club and said, Hi, I understand you’ve been to Elvis’ Presley house. You just have to take me to meet him. If Grant’s story is true, another legend dies. Because it was not Kismet, as Priscilla would like to portray for the entire world, but the result of a scheme set up by her.  Of all the girls in the world he could choose from Elvis fell in love with a pert, five foot three-inch, grey-eyed 14-year-old American military brat he met in West Germany. Priscilla Anne Beaulieu was the stepdaughter of US Air Force Captain Joseph Beaulieu & was introduced to Elvis by a young airman named Curie Grant. At the time she was wearing a blue and white sailor suit dress with white socks.

Elvis Presley Wedding Photos

Priscilla  Makeover by Elvis

The young couple continued to see each other on carefully monitored dates in Germany. After Elvis returned to the US and was discharged he convinced Priscilla’s mother and stepfather to allow he to fly to Memphis to spend Christmas holidays. Then with help from Dee and Elvis’ grandmother Minnie Mae Hood Presley, Priscilla’s parents were wheedled into allowing her to come to Memphis to finish high school. She was supposed to live with Dee and Vernon in a house behind Graceland.

I read the things they say about how Elvis and Priscilla met, but I was with Elvis in Germany. I introduced him to Priscilla myself. It was not the way they say in the magazines or how Priscilla herself describes it. Now it shouldn’t matter after all these years, I’ve kept this secret all along because of my respect for Elvis. He was so nice to me. He even came to my home in Germany and met my mother.

Today, Grant lives in a North Hollywood apartment, his family Coat of Arms prominently displayed on the wall behind him. His wife a striking brunette does not appear distressed be her husband’s account of the love affair he had enjoyed with Priscilla.

My duty was to look after the American kids at US Air Force Eagle Club. They had a talent contest called the Saturday Night Hit Parade for the Americans. I was one of the prize presenters that night when I spotted this girl, whom I later found out was named Priscilla. She used to watch me all the time. I didn’t know her but couldn’t help noticing her there night after night. Finally I met her at the snack bar where she was playing the jukebox. I was eating a hamburger and said, Hi! What are you playing? She smiled at me and said, I’m trying to find some songs by Elvis Presley. I adore him. I was 19 at the time and Priscilla had just turned 14. I thought she was cute.

From then on we talked every time she came to the club and we even went to see a movie. We talked about Elvis a lot, because both of us were two of his great fans. I was stationed at the same base as Elvis and one day his father Vernon came to see our charity show. He came backstage and introduced himself and said he would like to have Elvis see the show but couldn’t because they would probably want him to sing and the Colonel would not let Elvis perform while in the Army because they would not pay him to do so. Then to my surprise he invited the other guys and me to his house. From then on Grant became one of the many Army buddies and cohorts who freely went in and out of Elvis’ home. We ate pizza all the time. Grant recalls. Maybe three or four-time a week.

It was while Grant was enjoying Elvis’ company that he told Priscilla he got to meet their idol. At first I don’t think she believed me. So, one day I asked if she’d like to meet Elvis. She said I would have to ask her father because he would never believe her. Her father wasn’t too impressed with the idea because Elvis was only home at night and it was a long drive back to Wiesbaden, but he finally said it was okay if I got her home by midnight.

May 1 1967 a few hours before the ceremony, he is still in doubt. Is it right to get married? Jesus never got married. He doesn’t know if he can live up to the marriage vows. He promised his mum to be a good man for his wife but she died so young (at 46 on August 14 1958). He would give everything just to hear her advice right now.

Deep in his heart Elvis knows, he can’t let Priscilla wait any longer. He promised it to her, her dad and the Colonel. He had known Priscilla (May 24 1945) since they met in 1958 and he really loved her, no doubt about that.

 “I loved playing house. I personally washed all his clothes, along with the towels and the sheets, and took pride in ironing his shirts and rolling up the socks the way my mother had taught me. Here was an opportunity to take care of him myself. No maids or housekeepers to pamper us,” recalls Priscilla

Priscilla on the three weeks of their honeymoon when they stayed on Elvis’ ranch. “I think she had a fantasy of a normal home life with Elvis, one in which he went to work like other husbands came home in the evening, helped her cook dinner, and then sat around with her at night. … ‘We never have any privacy! ‘she told me once. And it was true. Just as she couldn’t believe Elvis would want to take all of us and our wives down to the ranch, I found it odd that Elvis often circumvented her plans to be alone with him by inviting an entire herd of people to come along.” Alan of the Memphis Mafia, Elvis’ clan of friends

The doctor opens his door. ‘Mister Presley?’ ‘Yes, sir?’
Your wife is pregnant. You are having a baby, congratulations!’
Elvis embraces his dad. ‘You’re gonna be a grey grandpa!’
‘This is the best thing that has ever happened to me, dad. We didn’t plan to get a baby this soon, you know. But when Priscilla told me I was so happy and stunned I couldn’t move. This is what marriage is all about. I wish mama was here. She would be absolutely thrilled.’

Elvis can’t wait to tell the news on the set of Speedway. Proudly he presents everyone a big cigar.

December 1967. Elvis doesn’t feel good. His film schedule isn’t as tight and the Presley family moves back to Memphis. Priscilla has been  busy decorating the new house. But Elvis needs time for himself, doesn’t know what to do next. He is tired of his movie career and misses the contact with a live audience. Fortunately the Colonel is negotiating about a Christmas special with NBC next year. It will be his first appearance before a live audience in eight years.

“Life would basically interfere with his emotions, sometimes on a daily basis. If his father upset him, or one of the guys, sometimes he’d go upstairs and not come down for two or three days. He had a very difficult time confronting his emotions, confronting conflicts. But eventually he’d come out of it. … You went with the ride. Basically you went with it. one thing that I realized was that he loved the chase. And once the chase was over, I knew I didn’t have to worry on anything – whether it was a new game or a girl or somebody new coming into the group. He would always come home. And once you realized about him, you knew it was just a matter of time; it just depended on how long he wanted to play the game, and whether you wanted to wait.” Priscilla Presley

“He didn’t want me looking at anyone else, not even the guys that worked for him. I was not to go in a room if one of them was there by himself, I was afraid to say anything to any of them for fear he would hear me and reprimand me later: What was I doing down there in the first place? What did you talk about? What were they talking about? I was with HIM.” Priscilla Presley

She can’t say he didn’t warn her before Lisa Marie was born (February 1 1968). Why didn’t she understand that he can’t have sex with her? He can’t make love to a woman who had a baby. It’s God’s way of telling a woman she’s not a girl anymore. Becoming a mum means behaving in a respectful way. Priscilla doesn’t know how to deal with this. She feels emotionally and physically neglected. Desperately she starts an affair with her dance instructor. And Elvis is also fooling around. Women enough for the King! But Elvis needs some time to focus on the rehearsals for the NBC-Christmas-special. He is determined to make a glorious comeback. Elvis hardly spends any time at home and he and his wife live separate lives. For Priscilla everything falls into place. All those years her whole life evolved around Elvis, his moods and those longs nights with sleeping pills. She can’t take anymore and has to think about herself for once before it’s too late and she loses herself.

August 16 1970. Elvis is on a high. His shows in Las Vegas are a big success. One of his background singers is leaving the entourage and the 25-year old Kathy Westmoreland takes her place. Elvis immediately falls  Kathy, who still is a virgin. They click. Elvis and Kathy talk night and day about spiritual issues and philosophize about the meaning of life. Elvis tells her: ‘it’s important for me to entertain people … make people happy, let them forget their problems for a while. That’s why I am here on earth for.’ Elvis Presley. “I wanted to stop the affair because I couldn’t stand myself anymore. I couldn’t find no valid excuse for committing adultery, love or no love … Elvis was furious. ‘Does this mean I have to get someone else, train them just like I want them?’, he snarled. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. ‘Am I some kind of puppy that you housebreaker, train to be a good pet?’, I demanded. ‘I am a woman, a human being. … You will just have to find yourself another Gladys.” Kathy Westmoreland

“I suppose since I was an only child we might have been a little closer than – I mean, everyone loves their mother, but I was an only child, and Mother was right with me all my life. And it wasn’t only like losing a mother, it was like losing a friend, a companion, someone to talk to, I could wake her up any hour of the night if I was worried or troubled about something, well, she’d get up and try to help me.” Elvis Presley

“With me Elvis could become a little boy again, escaping from the responsibilities of family, friends, fans, the press, and the world. Here, with me, he could be vulnerable and childlike, a playful boy who stayed in his pajamas for days at a time. … During the lulls he wouldn’t know what to do with himself. He was like a child. He would take pills or read or just eat – because he was bored. You know, he just had to occupy his time with something to do.” Priscilla Presley. In a last attempt to save his marriage, Priscilla throws herself on karate. It’s Elvis’s favourite sport and Priscilla hopes she can regain the attention of her husband. But Elvis is losing grip. The excitement of the shows in Las Vegas has turned into a boring routine. Elvis turns to gambling, buys guns and takes more pills than ever. Priscilla can’t reach him anymore and finds comfort at her karate teacher Mike Stone.

In the meantime Elvis’ affair with Kathy Westmoreland is over. Kathy can’t justify to herself interfering in a marriage. But what really kills her, is Elvis’ way of life. The constant intake of pills makes a normal daily routine impossible. Priscilla comes to the conclusion her future isn’t with Elvis. She tells him she’s leaving. Elvis is furious and forces her to have sex. “That’s how a real man makes love to his woman”, he tells her afterwards. On July 26 1972 it’s made official that Priscilla has left Elvis.

“I felt that I just couldn’t reach him anymore. He had bought his own image, and you couldn’t have a real conversation with him; he would just discredit you and everything else. I don’t care what anybody says – I think that deep down he wanted to be a family man. But he was serving too many masters, he was too dispersed – he had all this energy, and he didn’t know what to do with it. He’d go off on one thing, and then there would be an interruption; he’d go off in another direction and then he was conflicted again. Because he had everything at his fingertips. It was the same with women. He wanted to have his cake and eat it, too – just like every man, I guess!

It’s the rejection that hurts Elvis the most. But deep in his hearts he knows it. It’s his fault that Priscilla walked. He will never have a happy family life-like he had with his mum and dad. He couldn’t life up to the promise he made his mum.

October 9 1973 Elvis and Priscilla see each other again after a long time in court. Priscilla is shocked by Elvis’ appearance. His face is swollen, he’s fat and he has a faraway look. As soon as the divorce is finalised Priscilla leaves with her sister. Outside, she turns around for the last time and waves to Elvis. Priscilla is relieved to see Elvis gives her a wink. Six days later The King is rushed into hospital in comatose. He has trouble breathing. Elvis Presley dies on August 16 1977. He is 42.