5 family secrets

THE WIFE OF ELVIS OPENS UP LIKE NEVER BEFORE AS SHE DETAILS THE GREATEST TRAGEDIES AND HEARTBREAKS OF HER PRIVATE LIFE

- COMPILED BY: KYLIE WALTERS

Following decades of revealing interviews, books and big-screen movies based on their extraordinary lives, it's hard to believe there is anything that we don't already know about the Presley dynasty. And yet, matriarch Priscilla has kept a few secrets up her sleeve for her new memoir, Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis.

The autobiography picks up where her 1985 book, Elvis and Me, left off. Decades after her romance with the singing superstar captivated the world, Priscilla recalls the tumultuous breakdown of her marriage, offering a rare glimpse into the private life behind one of the most public love stories in history – and it was no fairytale.

"There's been so much that's untruthful out there – things like Elvis is still alive and hidden somewhere, all this stuff about how our family is battling," Priscilla told People magazine ahead of the book's release.

"I want to clear some things up."

She's also not holding back when it comes to discussing Michael Jackson, who had a short-lived marriage to Lisa Marie Presley, or the many ups and downs in the stormy relationship with her late daughter, including a shock revelation she only discovered following her death in 2023, aged just 54.

"We were very close," Priscilla said of Lisa Marie. "Lisa could be hardheaded, but so could I sometimes. We had a lot of good times together."

Despite her many tragedies and heartbreaks, which she reveals in a raw and candid manner, at 80, Priscilla is showing no signs of slowing down. As well as her memoir, she is headed to Australia in November for her speaking tour. She admits her staff have dubbed her the "Energizer bunny".

"I don't stop," she told the publication. "I don't feel 80 at all. If anything, I feel 25. I'm still driving, keeping busy, making sure everyone's OK. I don't really think about age – when I'm 90, maybe I will."