‘Priscilla’ depicts Elvis Presley as physically and emotionally abusive. Here’s what Priscilla Presley said about his controlling behavior in her memoir.
Sofia Coppola’s movie “Priscilla” offers a new perspective on one of pop culture’s most iconic couples: Elvis and Priscilla Presley. Starring Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla and “Euphoria” actor Jacob Elordi as Elvis, the film charts the 14-year romance between the couple who first met in West Germany in 1959.
The couple separated in 1973 and just over a decade later, Priscilla shocked the world when she revealed intimate details from their relationship in her memoir she cowrote with Sandra Harmon, “Elvis and Me” — which serves as the basis of Coppola’s film.
Unlike the Elvis seen in Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 biopic about the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, the Elvis in “Priscilla,” is portrayed as temperamental, controlling, and, at times, downright abusive.
If you were curious about how much of the movie is based in reality, here’s what Priscilla wrote about her tumultuous, troubling relationship with Elvis in the book.
Priscilla recognized that there was a power imbalance between her and Elvis, and said that she began to see him almost as a God.
In the first chapter of her memoir, Priscilla wrote she understood that her 14-year relationship with Elvis — which began when she was 14 and he was 24 — was not necessarily healthy.
She wrote: “He taught me everything: how to dress, how to walk, how to apply makeup and wear my hair, how to behave, how to return love — his way. Over the years he became my father, husband, and very nearly God.”
Elvis molded Priscilla into his ideal of a perfect woman — and that included both her opinions and her looks.
During a trip to Las Vegas early on in their relationship, Elvis told Priscilla that he wanted her to dye her brunette hair a darker shade (to match his dyed black quiff which hid his natural blonde) and wear heavier eye makeup to make her blue eyes “stand out more.”
Elsewhere, Priscilla wrote that Elvis also made it clear what colors she should and shouldn’t wear.
“He liked me in red, blue, turquoise, emerald green, and black and white — the same colors he himself wore,” she wrote, adding: “I was Elvis’s doll, his own living doll, to fashion as he pleased.”
“The more we were together the more I came to resemble him in every way. His tastes, his insecurities, his hang-ups — all became mine.”