Robert Kardashian Revealed Elvis Was ‘Overly Controlling’ of Priscilla Presley During Their Relationship

Robert Kardashian began a relationship with Priscilla Presley after her divorce from Elvis Presley. While the relationship was meaningful to both Kardashian and Priscilla, he admitted Elvis got between them. He was very much still a figure in Priscilla’s life and struggled to release the control he had over her. Kardashian once complained about Elvis to a friend.

Robert Kardashian said Elvis got between himself and Priscilla Presley

Kardashian and Priscilla began dating in the 1970s. She’d recently ended her marriage to Elvis, and they both moved on to new relationships. She and Kardashian reportedly moved in with each other soon after beginning their romance. 

Elvis soon became a problem for the new couple. Kardashian complained to friends that Elvis would call at odd hours to talk to Priscilla. Often, the couple would be in bed together and “would put the bedside receiver on the pillow between her and Robert and allow him to listen in on the King’s intimate conversations with his ex-wife” (via Page Six).

Though Elvis was in a relationship with Linda Thompson, he didn’t want Priscilla to date “because they had [daughter] Lisa Marie, and Elvis was very involved in that.” Kardashian reportedly became frustrated with Elvis’ continued involvement in Priscilla’s life. He told a friend that Priscilla was “terrific …But this guy Elvis doesn’t stop controlling her.”

She also said her former husband was very controlling

Priscilla agreed that Elvis exerted control over her. He chose the way she dressed and styled her hair and makeup. She said he didn’t want her to use birth control and made her worry excessively about gaining weight during pregnancy. She said this began early in their relationship. He used threats of breakups as a way to stop her from questioning him about his infidelity.

“I don’t have a goddamn thing to hide,” he once told her, per her book Elvis and Me. “You’re getting a little too aggressive and demanding. It might be a good idea if you visited your parents for a while.”

He threw her clothes into a suitcase and told a member of his entourage to book her a ticket home. As he walked her out the door with her bag, he admitted he hadn’t been serious. 

“I was relieved and happy to be back in his arms,” she wrote. “Anything he’d have said would have made sense to me in that moment. What I didn’t realize until later was that this was Elvis’s technique of keeping me under control.”

Robert Kardashian wanted things to get more serious with Priscilla Presley

Kardashian and Priscilla fell for each other quickly, and the former reportedly could see their relationship lasting forever.

“Priscilla made Robert very happy,” their friend Joni Migdal said. “He wanted to marry her and have children with her. That was definitely his hope, his plan.”

Ultimately, though, Priscilla did not want to marry again. She reportedly said that she was unwilling to marry until after Elvis died. After they broke up, Kardashian went on to marry Kris Jenner.