PRIS-1994womenfirst

April 18, 1994
pg.40
by Alan W. Petrucelli

PRISCILLA PRESLEY It's "time to shatter the myths"

Funny, she doesn't look like a grandmother. Priscilla Beaulieu Presley dresses like the fashion model she once was; a
gold-colored jumpsuit and T-shirt accentuate her lithe figure. When she removes her sunglasses, she looks even better.
"I don't allow my grandchildren or anyone else to call me 'grandma,"' says Priscilla, who, at 47, is a grandmother of two. "It
has such a negative connotation. The other day, my son, Navarone, who is only three years older than my granddaughter,
said, 'Grandmothers have gray hair and wear old ugly dresses, You're not a grandmother!'" Priscilla smiles. "This," she adds
proudly, "from a seven-year-old!"
What does she allow her grandkids to call her? "'Nonna,"' Priscilla explains. "It means 'grandmother' in Italian."
It's hard to imagine that more than 30 years have passed since Priscilla, then a 14-year-old military brat living with her
parents in Germany, met-and fell in love with---America's most famous rock 'n' roller and draftee. She wed Elvis seven years
later. The marriage, she says, stifled her personality and suffocated her self-image. Elvis taught her how to dress, act, make
love. He shaped Priscilla into the child-woman he wanted her to be; sky-high blue-black beehive, garish makeup and slashes
of eyeliner so thick Priscilla often appeared to be suffering from black eyes. She existed solely to please him.
"Elvis was my best friend, my teacher, my lover, almost God," she recalls. "I was devoted to him. His word was law. For
instance, Elvis told e to never wear patterned clothes because I was small-boned and they wouldn't look good on me. So I
believed him. I lived by his words.
Was Elvis a male chauvinist pig? She bristles. "I hate that word...pig," she says. "Elvis was demanding. He was the man of
the family. Yes, he was a chauvinistic pig." And he had all the traits that come with one: Ann-Margaret's recent
autobiography, the actress reveals that she and Elvis were hot and heavy-though he was engaged to Priscilla at the time.
Priscilla won't comment on the book or its author.
Like Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Priscilla became a celebrity not because of who she was, but who her husband was.
Living in the shadow of a legend caused Priscilla frustration, sadness and anger-and robbed her of her youth. "I didn't have
the prom and all the other things girls my age had," she recalls softly. "When my classmated were thinking of what colleges
to attend, I was worrying about which sequined dress would look best. Looking back as an adult and not a child, I'd have to
say my devotion to him wasn't healthy. We didn't live a normal life. I look at photos of myself back then and I think, 'Look at
the vulnerability and naivete of that child! Thank God she's grown up.'"
By the time Priscilla left Elvis in 1973-after six years of catering to his strange phobias and sexual shenanigans-the King had
become the rhinestoned, bloated icon of Vegas excess. "I tried to make the marriage work, but the odds were against us,"
recalls Priscilla, who shared custody of their daughter, Lisa Marie. "I knew nothing about saving a marriage."
Nor did she know hot to go about finding her own sense of identity. "It was only after I was divorced that I was able to shake
my head and think, 'Whoa! Who is this person? What have I contributed to the world?'" she recalls.
After Elvis, the actress embraced Scientology, which supplied a different set of rules. Priscilla's faith in this religious sect that
believes the soul can be cleared of negativity through a ritual called "processing," prompted her to place Lisa Marie in
Scientology-run schools when she flirted with drugs. "I'd tell Lisa, 'Look at how drugs destroyed your father!' Lisa thought
drugs couldn't harm her. She came clean, and stays clean, her mom says, "because she's older, married, a mother and no
longer selfish. She's really come into her own."
So has Priscilla. She became a star in her own right, playing Jenna Wade on Dallas for five years, and in the big-screen
Naked Gun series. She also became an entrepreneur, marketing her own perfume and running a successful Beverly Hills
boutique. Her naivete had disappeared, replaced with steely determination.
For the past nine years, she's been living with Brazilian filmmaker Marco Garibaldi, 10 years her junior. "It was difficult for
men to feel comfortable with the bigness of the Elvis connection," she adds. "I've had some really lonely times, and often
wondered if there was anyone out
Is it easy for him to deal with the Elvis legacy? "The greatest thing I can say about Marco is that he's very sure of himself,"
she explains. "It's amazing what he goes through. We'll be sitting at a restaurant, and an Elvis fan will come up and say 'I
loved Elvis!' in front of Marco and our son. "I'll say, 'This is not the right time and place,' but Marco will just smile. I look at
him and think, 'Thank God he can take it.'"
Priscilla and Marco often drop by Lisa Marie's house, a short ride from Priscilla's French country-style Los Angeles mansion,
to spend time with her daughter's kids, Danielle, 4 and Benjamin Storm, 1. "Our children are growing up like brothers and
sister; it's the most touching experience Lisa and I have had," says Priscilla. "We have been through so mch, and this has
brought us closer." Priscilla is also close to her son-in-law, musician Danny Keough. "I like him a lot, and we chat all the
time."
Priscilla's stronger sense of self has allowed her to poke fun at herself in The Naked Gun trilogy, the last installment of which
opens this month. "Hollywood had this image that I was this sexy glamour thing," she says. "When I read the script, here was
a woman who was sexy and glamorous, but who also fell down stairs. I had to do the role to shock everyone. It was time to
shatter myths. I'm serious about everything I do, but that doesn't mean I can't have fun. These movies gave me a chance to
laugh at myself, throw people off." Critics agreed. They showered Priscilla with glowing reviews, many citing her (surprising)
comedic charms.
Yet Priscilla knows that no matter how strong her own image is, she can never eradicate Elvis from her life. Nor does she
want to. Since 1979, Priscilla has been executor of Elvis's estate, including Graceland. When Priscilla took control, the
assets had dwindled so low that she knew the only way to salvage its future-and supply her and Lisa Marie with income-was
to open Graceland. The public first came through its massive wrought-iron gates in 1982. Each year since then, $10 million
has been added to the estate, currently worth more than $75 million. Because some followers of Scientology donate large
sums of money in order to stay in good standing, many people believe the Presley fortune will be jeopardized when Lisa
Marie takes over executorship in 1998. Priscilla's response: "I can assure you that Lisa's not going to give away her money."
Each year, more than 650,000 visitors pay to enter the Memphis mausoleum. Many head straight for the garden, where Elvis
is buried. Or at least he's supposedly buried. Is Elvis alive?
The question make Priscilla boil. "I don't think he's dead. I know he's dead. Lisa and I saw him in his coffin. We buried him.
Elvis wold never have been mean enough to fake his death. People just can't let go of their hero, so they perpetrate this
horrible joke. Elvis is not alive. He does not work at Burger King. Such stories are hurtful.
"I've made lots of mistakes in my life," admists Priscilla. "From every one comes a lesson I've applied to my life. Mistakes
help me grow. I'm just trying to be the best person I can be. I'm not afraid to fail. And that's the sign of a grown woman."

Priscilla on.....

MOTHERHOOD
"Navarone can only watch television if he's being supervised. He's at the age where he really likes the TV show X-Men, and I
feel he can discern between real life and the violence on the show. The deal in our house: Whatever time he spends
watching television or playing Nintendo, he must spend the same amount of time outside playing a sport."

LOS ANGELES
"The only thing I don't have in my life right now is the answer to where I want to move to in the next five years. Los Angeles
has become a city out of control. You can feel it, smell it. The people are ready to snap. It's not a city I want to raise my son
in."

AMERICA'S FUTURE
"The country is falling apart. Hate is all around us. The future of education is in severe jeopardy. But instead of taking
responsibility as a society and doing something about it, we blame everyone else. We have no family left, no values. It's the
'me generation' all over again. That's why I want my son to go into politics. He'll make changes."

TURNING 50
"People want you to believe you're going downhill when you turn fifty. But I'm confident that I'll be the best fifty-year-old I can
be."