Personal relationships of Elvis Presley

"[6] Doctors diagnosed liver problems, and Gladys's condition eventually worsened so much that she was admitted to hospital in August 1958.

[9] During and shortly after the funeral, Judy Spreckels and Nick Adams, Presley's best friends at that time, attempted to comfort the singer.

[10] Presley's early experiences being teased by his classmates for being a "mama's boy" had a deep influence on his clumsy advances to girls.

[11] His first true sweetheart was the fifteen-year-old Dixie Locke Emmons, whom the singer dated steadily after graduating from Humes and during his Sun Records time.

However, since the singer's death, many claims to relationships have been made by women who were no more than acquaintances or had short affairs which were exaggerated for personal gain.

[13] Juanico even blames Elvis's manager, Colonel Thomas Parker, for encouraging Presley to go out with beautiful women only "for the publicity.

"[14] Between 1954 and 1956, when his stardom began to rise, Presley became the subject of adulation and adoration by young Hollywood starlets such as Natalie Wood, Judy Tyler, Shelley Fabares, and Connie Stevens.

She has further claimed that Elvis loved the flouncy, yellow baby-doll nightie he had bought her, and that he gave her pills after having sex with her.

Spreckels, singer Betty Amos, hairstylist Patti Parry, and others close to Presley all filled sisterly roles for Elvis.

[25] June Juanico "recalls a time when she stood up to Elvis in front of his band of hangers-on, who even then were beginning to accompany him everywhere.

Julie Parrish, Presley's co-star in Paradise Hawaiian Style, relates, "One time on set I had a real pain in my side – a side-effect, I think – and Elvis scooped me up, carried me into his trailer and shut the door.

"[24] Playboy star and actress June Wilkinson remembered that she "met Elvis on the set of King Creole.

Turmoil ensued as the 'boys' scrambled to assist trying to prevent too big of a scene... "[27] Elvis said to Buzz that he was sorry and not raised to treat a woman like that.

[28] Sonny West who was also there agreed with Joe and noticed that Elvis and Christina patched things up when he saw them getting along very well on a set one week later.

[32] These claims are directly contradicted by comments from actresses like Cybill Shepherd, who acknowledged her affair with the singer and said to have introduced Elvis to certain amorous techniques.

"[34] In fact, they met at a time (July 1972) when they were both involved in much more significant relationships : Peter Bogdanovich for her [35] and Linda Thompson for Elvis.

After the premiere, Elvis made a trip back to Memphis to spend time with his father before filming started on Viva Las Vegas.

[37] In an interview with 'Teen Magazine, Holdridge confirmed the two were dating and stated "When I talk about going out with Elvis, I mean visiting him at his home for parties with his friends.

"[41] Significantly, there was a great publicity campaign about the romance between Elvis and Ann-Margret during the 1963 filming of Viva Las Vegas and the following weeks,[42] which helped to increase the popularity of the young Hollywood beauty.

It has also been reported that Presley "adored to fondle and suck women's toes, and those in his entourage who were given the job of choosing companions for him would often be asked to check the girls' feet.

"[44] Therefore, Guralnick writes that for "the more experienced girls it wasn't like with other Hollywood stars or even with other more sophisticated boys they knew."

What he liked to do was to lie in bed and watch television and eat and talk all night..."[45] Dolores Hart was the female love interest from Elvis's second and fourth movies, and was his first onscreen kiss.

Anita Wood, another girl whom the singer's mother hoped Presley would eventually marry, was with him as he rose to superstardom, served in the US military and returned home in 1960.

Brent D. Taylor has stated that "Elvis's closest female relationships were usually with young girls of around 13 or 14, ending as they reached late teens.

[52] In her 1985 autobiography, Elvis and Me, written with author Sandra Harmon, Priscilla describes Presley as a very passionate man who was not overtly sexual towards her.

She also says that Presley became fascinated with the occult and metaphysical phenomena and an addict to prescription drugs, which dramatically changed his personality from playful to being passive and introverted.

Considering Presley's status as a universal sex symbol ..., it is unlikely he was able to put this situation in any type of perspective other than having not been 'man enough' to hold his woman.

[62] He reportedly spent day and night with friends and employees whom the news media affectionately dubbed the Memphis Mafia.

Nick Adams and his gang came by the suite all the time, not to mention the eccentric actor Billy Murphy ..."[66] When Buzz Cason asked Lamar Fike "how Elvis did it – this partying nearly every night," he "answered, 'A little somethin' to get down and a little something to get up.'

"[67] According to Presley expert Elaine Dundy, "Of all Elvis' new friends, Nick Adams, by background and temperament the most insecure, was also his closest.