At 80 years old in 2025, with a new memoir, a world tour, and decades of advocacy for Elvis’s legacy behind her, Priscilla Presley remains one of the most compelling and relevant figures in American cultural life.
Profile
| Full Name | Priscilla Ann Presley (born Priscilla Ann Wagner) |
| Born | May 24, 1945 |
| Age | 80 years old (as of 2025) |
| Birthplace | Brooklyn, New York, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Actress, Businesswoman, Author, Philanthropist |
| Spouse | Elvis Presley (married May 1, 1967; divorced October 1973) |
| Children | Lisa Marie Presley (with Elvis; died January 12, 2023); Navarone Garibaldi (with Marco Garibaldi, born 1987) |
| Net Worth | $50–70 million USD |
Early Life
Priscilla Ann Wagner was born on May 24, 1945, in Brooklyn, New York. Her father, James Wagner, a U.S. Navy pilot, was killed in a plane crash when she was just six months old. Her mother, Ann Iversen, later married Air Force Captain Paul Beaulieu, who adopted Priscilla and gave her his surname. As a military family, the Beaulieus moved frequently, living across the United States and Europe. It was during a posting at Wiesbaden Air Base in West Germany in 1959 that 14-year-old Priscilla met 24-year-old Elvis Presley at a party at his off-base residence, a meeting that would define both their lives.
Education
Priscilla completed her high school education at Immaculate Conception High School in Memphis, Tennessee, where Elvis had arranged for her to live with his father Vernon and stepmother Dee at Graceland while she finished school. She graduated in 1963. She later studied karate and acting in Los Angeles, pursuing her artistic development after her divorce from Elvis in 1973.
Career
Priscilla’s most consequential professional achievement was her transformation of the Elvis Presley estate from near-bankruptcy into one of entertainment’s most valuable properties. After Elvis’s death in 1977, the estate was in serious financial difficulty due to decades of mismanagement by Colonel Tom Parker. Priscilla took over as co-administrator of the estate alongside Elvis’s father Vernon until his death, and then as the primary steward until Lisa Marie came of age. Her most visionary decision was opening Graceland to the public in June 1982 — a move that transformed Elvis’s home into one of America’s most visited tourist attractions, generating hundreds of millions of dollars and saving the estate. She served as Chairman and CEO of Elvis Presley Enterprises, overseeing all licensing, merchandising, and media rights to Elvis’s name and image.
As an actress, Priscilla built a genuine career in her own right, most notably playing Jenna Wade on the legendary television series Dallas (1983–1988) and starring as Jane Spencer opposite Leslie Nielsen in all three Naked Gun comedy films (The Naked Gun, 1988; Naked Gun 2½, 1991; Naked Gun 33⅓, 1994). Her comedic timing and screen presence in the Naked Gun films were widely praised and demonstrated that she was far more than a celebrity spouse.
As an author, her 1985 memoir Elvis and Me became a massive bestseller, was adapted into a television film in 1988, and was later the inspiration for the 2023 biographical film Priscilla directed by Sofia Coppola. Her 2025 memoir Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis revealed previously undisclosed details of her post-divorce life and her complex, loving but complicated relationship with Elvis, including his expectation that she be “pretty, submissive and charming.” She toured globally to promote the memoir in late 2025 and early 2026.
Personal Life
After her divorce from Elvis in 1973, Priscilla had a long-term relationship with screenwriter Marco Garibaldi, with whom she had a son, Navarone Garibaldi, in 1987. She and Garibaldi separated in 2006 after more than two decades together. She never remarried. Her daughter Lisa Marie Presley died tragically on January 12, 2023, from a small bowel obstruction following complications from a previous bariatric surgery, at the age of 54. Priscilla has spoken movingly about the devastating loss of her only daughter. She is also the grandmother of four children from Lisa Marie’s marriages, including twin girls Finley and Harper Lockwood, and Riley Keough (now representing the Presley family interests at Graceland).
Net Worth
Priscilla Presley’s estimated net worth is between $50 million and $70 million USD, derived primarily from her decades of leadership at Elvis Presley Enterprises, her acting career, book royalties, fragrance and lifestyle brand ventures, and speaking engagements. She launched a fragrance line, a luxury bed linen collection, and a skin care line under her own brand.
Recent News (2025–2026)
In 2025, Priscilla published Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis and embarked on an extensive global promotional tour, visiting London, Bristol, Edinburgh, Dublin, Paris, New York, and multiple Australian and New Zealand cities. In January 2026, she reflected publicly on what Elvis would have been doing had he lived to see his 91st birthday, telling Hello! Magazine: “I think he’d be doing the same thing in life, singing and touring. He loved it.”
Conclusion
Priscilla Presley’s life has been, in many ways, defined by a single relationship, and yet she has spent the decades since that relationship ended proving, quietly and consistently, that she is a formidable person entirely independent of the King who loved her. She is one of the great survivors of American celebrity culture, and at 80, her story is still being written.