Elvis Had a Very Specific Turn off in Romantic Partners
Elvis Presley was only married once, but he had many romantic partners in his lifetime. His entourage sought out women for him after shows, and he often pursued his co-stars. When looking for a romantic partner, Elvis wanted to avoid women with one physical characteristic.
Elvis avoided romantic partners with a specific physical trait
As Elvis’ entourage sought out women to set him up with, they became well acquainted with the singer’s type. He preferred petite, feminine brunettes, much like Priscilla Presley. Elvis’ desire for a smaller woman meant he specifically avoided partners with large feet.
“He likes them about five foot four, five foot five, and there is one thing that really turns him off and that is chicks with big feet,” bodyguard Sonny West said in the book Elvis: What Happened? by Steve Dunleavy.
Elvis believed big feet did not fit into his ideal of a feminine woman.
“He would tell us that he could be in bed with a chick and he would roll over and see those big, wide soles and oh, man, he just couldn’t get out of that bed fast enough,” West said. “He really likes them feminine.”
Elvis did not like it when his romantic partners were mothers
Though Elvis had a child, he preferred women who had never given birth. He broke up with one woman the moment he learned she had a child.
“Elvis found out that she had once been married and had a child, and when he found out that she had given birth to a child … he dropped her,” bodyguard Red West said. “It was a turn-off.”
He even told Priscilla Presley about his aversion to women with children. As a result, she spent her entire pregnancy concerned about the way motherhood would alter his opinion of her. She had a reason for concern.
“Now I was a mother and he was uncertain how to treat me,” she wrote in her book Elvis and Me. “He had mentioned before we were married that he had never been able to make love to a woman who’d had a child.”
She explained that Elvis did not touch her for months after she gave birth. She began to feel insecure and unfulfilled in the marriage.
“I am beginning to doubt my own sexuality as a woman,” she wrote in her diary at the time. “My physical and emotional needs were unfulfilled.”
Priscilla Presley said Elvis molded her into his ideal woman
Elvis and Priscilla’s relationship was not without its problems, but he did all he could to shape her into his ideal woman.
“Nights when he was calm and peaceful, he would describe his ideal woman and how perfectly I fit this image,” Priscilla wrote. “He liked soft-spoken brunettes with blue eyes. He wanted to mold me to his opinions and preferences. Despite his reputation for being a rebel, he held the traditional view of relationships. A woman had her place, and it was the man who took the initiative.”
He controlled the way she dressed, styled her hair, and applied her makeup. She began to feel as though she was his living doll.
