Biography of Priscilla Presley

Priscilla Presley was born on May 24, 1945 in Brooklyn, New York. She was christened Priscilla Ann Wagner. Presley lost her father, Air Force pilot James Frederick Wagner, in a plane crash while she was still an infant. Her mother Anna married Paul Beaulieu, another Air Force office. In 1959, while she was living in Wiesbaden, West Germany.

14-year-old Priscilla met Elvis Presley, who was undergoing highly publicized stint with the military. Their relationship was covered in detail by the press, though there was a surprising lack of comment on their age difference. Elvis was discharged from the US Army in 1960. He returned to the United States, leaving 15-year-old Priscilla behind in Germany. The only contact between the two lovers was through letters and phone calls. She later followed him to the U.S. Eight years after their first meeting, they got married in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 1, 1967. Their daughter Lisa Marie was born the following year, in 1968.

They eventually separated in February 1972. They obtained a divorce in October 1973. Their divorce provided for mutual custody of their daughter Lisa Marie, who lived with Priscilla in Los Angeles and with Elvis at Graceland. Although their marriage didn’t last, Elvis and Priscilla remained friends, and raised Lisa Marie together, until Elvis’s death in 1977.

She ran a successful boutique from 1973 to 1976, with clients including Natalie Wood, Barbra Streisand and Cher. She refused the part as one of Charlie's Angels in the TV Series ‘Charlie's Angels’ in 1976. Priscilla had begun to study acting during their marriage, and after a few TV appearances, she joined the cast of the hugely popular nighttime soap Dallas. She won a Soap Opera Digest award for her role of Jenna Wade Krebbs in 1984. Priscilla starred in three Naked Gun movies with Leslie Nielsen as Jane Spencer between 1988 and 1994. In 1985, She released the best-selling memoir ‘Elvis and Me’. She produced the TV movie based on her book in 1988. Priscilla and Italian screenwriter Marco Garibaldi have been living together since 1984. They both are proud parents to a son, Navaronne, who was born in 1987.

She became the executor of Elvis’ estate, Graceland, in 1979, and proved herself to be a successful businesswoman, turning Elvis Presley Enterprises, of which she holds the position of Chairwoman and President, into a profitable business. In the late '90s she started a line of fragrances, and developed her own range of clothing and skin care products. Her fragrance line included ‘Moments’, ‘Experiences’, ‘Indian Summer’, and ‘Roses and More’. ‘Moments’ was estimated to be worth $90 million a year in 1996. She was chosen by the prestigious People Magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world in 1992. In 1994 she became the world's most famous mother-in-law when her daughter Lisa Marie wed rock-legend Michael Jackson. Priscilla received a honorary degree (doctor of humanities) from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee in 1998.

In 2000, she was nominated to the board of directors of MGM, where she worked on a remake of Peter Sellers’ "The Party" (1960) with "Austin Powers" director Jay Roach. In 2002, she declared her intent to co-produce a musical theater production, "Elvis and Priscilla," based on their romance. Her daughter Lisa Marie herself has a daughter (Priscilla's granddaughter), Riley Keough, who models for John Galliano, and Benjamin Keough (Priscilla's grandson). Priscilla and Lisa Marie are both Scientologists, introduced to the religion in 1979 by famous movie star John Travolta.