Priscilla Presley Watched a Semi-Incoherent, Rant-Filled Elvis Show in ‘Shock’: ‘Like Watching a Different Person’
After Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley divorced, they maintained a friendly relationship. The former couple continued to see each other, and Priscilla even attended one of his performances. She found his behavior during this show to be shocking. Elvis went on a number of ranting tangents, but she took note of one that was particularly concerning.
Elvis’ behavior shocked Priscilla Presley during a concert
Not long after Elvis and Priscilla’s divorce, she brought their daughter, Lisa Marie, to one of his shows in Las Vegas. In between songs, he went on a number of tangents about a wide variety of topics. At one point, he addressed his rumored drug use. He claimed he had been sick, and tabloids spun this into a story about drugs.
“I was getting — I had the doctor and had the flu and get over it in one day, but all across this town — STRUNG OUT!” Elvis told the audience, per the book Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick. “I told them earlier, and don’t you get offended, ladies and gentlemen, I’m talking to someone else, if I find or hear an individual that has said that about me, I’m going to break their goddamn neck, you SONOFAB****. That is DANGEROUS. I will pull your goddamn tongue out BY THE ROOTS.”
Priscilla watched, stunned. She found it unbelievable that he gave the audience this much insight into his personal life.
“I was in shock,” she said. “Because [in the past] he would never, ever let on to the audience what his emotions were. You know, singing was always his way of venting his emotions, how he felt about something — and he’d get onstage and sing his heart out … This was [so] out of character, for someone who had so much pride, you know — everything he was against, he was displaying. It was like watching a different person.”
Elvis spoke about Priscilla Presley directly during the show
During that concert, Elvis pointed out Priscilla specifically. To the audience, he mentioned their divorce after telling Priscilla to stand up and twirl for the crowd.
“Our divorce came about not because of another man or another woman but because of the circumstances involving my career,” he said. “I was traveling too much. I was gone too much. And it was — it was just an agreement that I didn’t think was fair to her, ’cause I was gone so much and everything.”
He went into the details of their divorce settlement before saying that Priscilla’s boyfriend, Mike Stone, was “no stud.”
Priscilla believed there was little her ex-husband could do to get his audience to turn on him
Despite Priscilla’s astonishment and the undeniable awkwardness of his comments, the audience cheered as he spoke. Priscilla believed there was very little Elvis could have done to make his fans turn on him.
“No matter what he did, his fans still cheered him on,” she wrote in her book Elvis and Me. “They were faithful to him through good performances and bad, and eventually their love was the only real gratification he received. They endorsed everything he did.”
As a result, Elvis struggled to understand when he made decisions that hurt his career.
