Hollywood history is messy. Really messy. Most people remember Priscilla Presley’s life as a neat timeline: the teenage years at Graceland, the 1967 wedding to the King, and the eventual divorce in 1973. But there is a massive, uncomfortable gap in the public's collective memory that centers on a man named Michael Edwards.
He wasn't just some rebound. He was a presence in her life for nearly seven years.
Michael Edwards was an actor and top-tier model in the late 1970s. He had that classic, rugged look—the kind that landing a "Mommie Dearest" role requires. When he met Priscilla in 1978, the world was still mourning Elvis. For Priscilla, Michael represented a break from the past, or at least that's how it looked on the surface. They were a "it" couple of the era, frequently snapped by paparazzi at Fire Island or lounging in Beverly Hills.
But behind those glossy 1980s photos, things were far from perfect. Honestly, "perfect" isn't even in the same zip code as the reality of their relationship.
The Book That Burned Bridges
In 1988, four years after they finally called it quits, Michael Edwards did something that permanently cemented his reputation as a Hollywood pariah. He wrote a memoir. It wasn't a sweet tribute. Titled Priscilla, Elvis, and Me, the book was a direct play on Priscilla’s own best-seller, Elvis and Me.
It was trashy. It was bitter. And it was deeply disturbing.
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The book revealed a relationship fueled by heavy drinking, mutual infidelity, and a strange, haunting obsession with the ghost of Elvis. Edwards claimed he felt a "prophecy" was at play because Elvis had once played a character named Mike Edwards in the movie It Happened at the World's Fair. He didn't just want to be Priscilla's boyfriend; he seemed to want to replace the King entirely.
But the real controversy—the thing that still makes people's skin crawl today—was how he wrote about Lisa Marie Presley.
What Michael Edwards Admitted (and What Lisa Marie Revealed)
You’ve likely heard the term "unreliable narrator." Michael Edwards is the poster child for it. In his own book, he admitted to having "sexual feelings" for a teenage Lisa Marie. He described a specific incident in a swimming pool where he became "aroused" while the young girl played nearby. He framed these admissions as "honesty," but to the rest of the world, it looked like a confession of predatory behavior.
For decades, this was a dark footnote. Then came 2024 and 2025, with the posthumous release of Lisa Marie Presley’s memoir, From Here to the Great Unknown.
The details are heartbreaking. Lisa Marie didn't just corroborate that Edwards was "creepy"; she alleged actual abuse. She wrote about waking up to find him in her room, running his fingers up her leg under the sheets when she was only ten years old. She described him as a man with a "horrible temper" who would spank her until she bruised, using the excuse that he was "teaching her how things work in Europe."
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It's heavy stuff. It changes how we look at those old paparazzi photos of the "happy" family.
A Timeline of the Relationship
- 1978: Michael and Priscilla begin dating, roughly a year after Elvis's death.
- 1978-1984: The couple lives together, primarily in Los Angeles, traveling frequently to Fire Island.
- 1984: The relationship ends amidst allegations of cheating on both sides.
- 1988: Michael releases his "tell-all" book, which Priscilla later claims she didn't fully read for years.
- 2024/2025: Lisa Marie’s posthumous accounts bring the full extent of the alleged abuse to light.
Why the Narrative Is Shifting Now
In 2026, we look at these power dynamics much differently than they did in the eighties. Back then, Michael Edwards was just a "troubled actor" in a "stormy romance." Today, the conversation is about grooming and the failure of protection.
Priscilla has often been criticized for staying with him as long as she did. In recent interviews and her own updated reflections, she has admitted that she was often in the dark about the specifics of what was happening in Lisa Marie’s bedroom. She knew he was a "drunk" and "difficult," but the sexual misconduct was something she says she only fully grasped much later.
Critics find that hard to swallow. Supporters say she was a victim of his manipulation too. The truth likely sits somewhere in the messy middle.
The Legacy of Michael Edwards and Priscilla
Michael Edwards basically vanished from the limelight after the late eighties. His acting career stalled out—outside of playing Joan Crawford's lover in Mommie Dearest, he's mostly a trivia answer. He lives in the shadows now, occasionally issuing denials to the press, like he did to People magazine when Lisa Marie’s claims resurfaced. He calls the allegations "absolutely untrue."
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But the court of public opinion has largely moved on from his version of the story.
When you search for Michael Edwards and Priscilla today, you aren't just looking for celebrity gossip. You're looking at a case study in how fame can mask some truly dark behavior. It’s a reminder that the "Golden Age" of Hollywood wasn't always so golden for the kids living through it.
Next Steps for Readers
If you want to understand the full context of this era, the best thing you can do is look at the primary sources—but with a grain of salt.
- Read Lisa Marie Presley’s From Here to the Great Unknown: This provides the most direct account of the trauma she experienced during the Michael Edwards years.
- Compare the memoirs: If you can find a copy of Michael's 1988 book, compare his "romanticized" version of events with the reality described by the Presley family. The discrepancies are telling.
- Research the 1970s Fire Island culture: It helps explain the environment of "excess" that allowed some of this behavior to go unchecked for seven years.
Understanding this history isn't just about the Presleys; it's about recognizing the patterns of behavior that celebrities used to hide behind the "tumultuous relationship" label.