Book review: Reflection of a ‘Burning Love’

In this candid memoir Priscilla Presley comes across as a kind, compassionate woman, who is forgiving towards those who hurt her

Priscilla Presley details her life and relationship with former husband Elvis Presley with brutal honesty. Picture: Getty

• Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis 
• Priscilla Beaulieu Presley with Mary Jane Ross 
• Headline, €16.99 

In this touching memoir, Priscilla Beaulieu Presley chronicles her life, including her personal grief, her role as a mother, and her career as an actress and businesswoman. 

She doesn’t only cover her life after the death of Elvis, she details how they met and their life together.

They spent 13 years together before she left him, much to the amazement of his millions of fans; she explains why: 

“I left Elvis because I needed a life of my own. I was living his life. Just as Elvis was searching for the meaning of his life, I was searching for mine.”

Both Priscilla and Elvis came from a world very different from today, which she describes well:

 “I grew up learning how to please a man … I was taught to never to be forward — pushy. A woman’s purpose was to meet her man’s needs before considering her own, if she thought about hers at all.”

After the birth of their daughter Lisa Marie, Priscilla decided that she needed to get away. 

She was only 14 when they met, and at Graceland she was surrounded by his all-male entourage, nicknamed the ‘Memphis Mafia’, who would choose the prettiest girls waiting at the gate and bring them to meet Elvis.

Priscilla liked most of the men and some became friends, but she was conflicted because though she was friendly with their wives: “There was an unspoken code that I would never tell what I saw going on with the guys.”

She was expected to stay up all night to keep Elvis company, while also catering for their baby’s needs.

When they got a nanny, Priscilla felt that she should be the one looking after Lisa Marie. Elvis was frequently unfaithful, while their sex life stopped, as he couldn’t make love to a mother. 

They divorced in 1973, and he died four years later. Although they differed as parents, he indulged Lisa Marie’s every whim while she did her best to discipline her, they remained close friends, closer than they had been while married.

The book focuses on themes of loss and resilience. Although to this day she is haunted by the loss of Elvis, that is far from all she writes about.

She is very honest about all the challenges she faced, in particular with her headstrong daughter, who seems to have never recovered from her father’s death.

“Although my daughter was sweet, she was also impulsive and didn’t always use good judgement.”

Many celebrities appear in her memoir, among them John Travolta; both she and Lisa Marie were involved in Scientology for a time, though that was not through his influence. 

Others include Michael Jackson, OJ Simpson (who frightened her), and Sarah Ferguson.

Among her toughest days was the death of Lisa Marie two years ago. Before that, she lost her grandson Benjamin by suicide, aged 27.

The passages describing that period are among the most moving in the book. She was also challenged by her son Navarone’s drug addiction, and she is brutally honest about how difficult that was.

Priscilla had to reinvent herself after she leaves Elvis and again after his death. 

She gradually became a businesswoman, and an actress, best-known for TV drama Dallas and The Naked Gun films. 

She transformed Graceland into an international destination and helped guide the development of Elvis Presley Enterprises, curating and producing albums, books, films, and concerts honouring him.

Softly, As I Leave You is the perfect title for the book, look up the lyrics if you are not familiar with the song. 

In this brutally candid memoir Priscilla comes across as a kind, compassionate woman, who is forgiving towards those who hurt her and who never blames others for any misfortunes she has suffered.

She’s now 80 and lives in Los Angeles near her son Navarone and grandchildren, where she continues her lifelong commitment to animal advocacy.

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