Priscilla Presley on Rumors Elvis Is Still Alive, Sets the Record Straight (Exclusive)

Elvis Presley has most certainly left the building.

In this week’s PEOPLE cover story, Elvis’ ex-wife, Priscilla Presley, sets the record straight on the conspiracies that the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll is still alive and faked his death at age 42 in 1977, in order to escape fame.

“There’s been so much that’s untruthful out there — things like Elvis is still alive and hidden somewhere,” says Priscilla, adding: “I wish he was still alive.”

Priscilla, now 80, first met Elvis when she was 14 in 1959. At the time, Priscilla was living in Germany with her mother, Ann, and stepfather Paul Beaulieu, a U.S. Air Force Captain. Elvis, who was 10 years her senior, was serving in the army.

Six months later, Elvis returned to the U.S., and by 1963, Priscilla’s parents let her move to his beloved Memphis, Tenn., to be with him.

“I met him at such a young age I didn’t have time to think about life yet,” Priscilla says. “Even when dating him, I’d think, ‘What am I going to do? I don’t want to be a nurse. I don’t want to be a teacher. I don’t want to be a secretary. What can do?’ Other things happened, and I love every moment.”

In 1967, Elvis and Priscilla, then 32 and 21 respectively, were married. Nine months later, Priscilla and Elvis welcomed their daughter Lisa Marie.

After Elvis and Priscilla divorced, Lisa Marie, then 5, primarily lived with her mom.

Still, Priscilla writes in her new memoir, Softly, as I Leave You: Life After Elvis, out Sept. 23, “I wanted to keep the family together as much as I could. One way or another, I made sure she saw her daddy.”

Their love story was depicted in Sofia Coppola’s 2023 film Priscilla, based on the star’s 1985 memoir Elvis and Me. Priscilla tells PEOPLE, however, that the film made her and Elvis’ relationship seem more “disruptive” than it was in reality.

“I mean, I can’t even remember Elvis and I having a feud,” she says. “He did have a temper, there’s no doubt. In the movie Priscilla, it has a moment where Elvis is on the telephone talking to Colonel Parker. The real story is Colonel was really upsetting him, and I had just come in, he didn’t know I was there.”

“He just lifted up [the chair], and he just threw it,” she continues. “By the time it got out of his hands he’s like, ‘Oh my God,’ and he came running over to me. That’s how it really was. Elvis did have a temper, but he never hurt anyone.”

Softly, As I Leave You: Life after Elvis will be published on Sept. 23 and is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.