Priscilla Presley claims Elvis Presley sought to hire a hitman to kill her karate instructor boyfriend in memoir bombshell

Priscilla Presley says Elvis Presley wanted to hire a hitman to kill her karate instructor boyfriend, Mike Stone, amid revelations in her new memoir Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis. The 80-year-old former wife of The King recounts the unraveling of her marriage to Elvis, who died in 1977, and details how her relationship with Mike began after she concluded that Elvis had been unfaithful. The account, which has circulated in media reports, presents a portrait of a turbulent period wrapped in celebrity myth and private pain as Presley reflects on life after Elvis.

The memoir describes how Priscilla first learned of Elvis’s alleged infidelities when she opened a mailbox that she says was packed with letters from women claiming to have pursued or been pursued by the rock icon. She says the sight was a turning point in their marriage, provoking a confrontation in which Elvis denied the accusations and insisted that the women were lying. The tension surrounding those revelations, she writes, helped spark a close friendship with Mike Stone—the karate instructor she would eventually begin an affair with. The widening distance between the couple is framed by Presley as a catalyst for seeking companionship elsewhere, even as she emphasizes that the affair did not erase her memories of Elvis’s earlier tenderness. The recap of those years appears in outlets reporting on her memoir, with Fox News outlining the sequence of events and the emotional fallout for the star and her family.

According to the book, Elvis’s response to the break in his marriage took a darker turn. Presley writes that in the weeks after she left, Elvis reportedly told members of his inner circle that Mike Stone had to die and went so far as to ask his road manager, Joe Esposito, to locate a hit man. The account suggests that Elvis, unable to tolerate the prospect of Priscilla being with another man, sought a violent solution as a means of preserving control over the situation. Esposito is described as one of the people who heard and warned about the idea; the memoir portrays him as a voice of caution who urged Presley to be careful and reminded him of the potential consequences of such plans. The narrative indicates that Elvis’s father and several friends pressed for restraint, and over time, Elvis was persuaded to abandon the plan. This element of the memoir aligns with the broader theme of a volatile period in the couple’s marriage, where public adoration masked private turmoil.

The affair with Mike Stone is not presented as a mere fling in the book. Presley says the relationship began amid the strains of suspicion and jealousy that came with Elvis’s infidelity allegations and the emotional toll of living in a world of public scrutiny. The memoir suggests that the affair became a significant emotional bond, intensifying the sense of betrayal and complicating the dynamics within the Presley household. The book also addresses the intimate aftermath of the affair, including a period in which Presley says Elvis made love with greater force and less tenderness than her memory of their earlier intimacy would suggest. She characterizes those encounters as emotionally painful and notes that they contributed to the complexity of her decision to leave him. Still, she emphasizes that the relationship’s end was not solely about the affair or sexual pressure; she frames the departure as the culmination of a broader breakdown in a marriage that had lasted several years and produced a daughter, Lisa Marie Presley.

The timeline in the memoir places a notable emphasis on Priscilla’s arrival in Elvis’s orbit in a way that has colored many discussions of their relationship. Presley notes that Elvis was 24 years old and a global star when he met her, then 14, at a party in West Germany during his U.S. Army service. The juxtaposition of a seasoned icon and a teenager who would become a central part of his life forms a controversial backdrop to the story she tells about their life together. The details are presented within the framework of her memoir, and they draw the reader into both the glamour and the vulnerability of a couple whose story has fascinated fans for decades. Presley has been discussing the memoir in public appearances connected to the book’s release, including at the 92nd Street Y’s Center for Culture & Arts, where she has described the project as a cathartic effort to reflect on life after Elvis and to share her perspective on a deeply personal history.

The broader arc of the couple’s life after their marriage is one of enduring fame interwoven with tragedy and reinvention. Presley and Elvis were married in Las Vegas in 1967 and welcomed their daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, the following year. The couple’s union ultimately ended in divorce in 1973, after which Presley pursued other intimate relationships and formed a long-term partnership with Brazilian screenwriter Marco Garibaldi, with whom she had a second child, Navarone. Elvis remained a globally celebrated figure until his death in 1977, and Presley has carried forward the memory of their relationship while carving out her own path in entertainment and publishing.

The memoir Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis is positioned as a personal reckoning with a life lived in the glare of the spotlight. Presley’s disclosures touch on themes of fidelity, power dynamics, aging, and the enduring ache of loss. The book’s publication comes at a time when audiences are revisiting the cultural footprint of Elvis’s era and the private chapters that shaped his public persona. The revelations about Elvis’s supposed reaction to Presley’s affair and the alleged hit-man plot add another layer to the ongoing conversation about the complexity of legendary figures and the human struggles that accompany fame. The narrative also underscores the intimate toll of Elvis’s fame on those closest to him and the ways in which public admiration can clash with private, often painful, realities.

Elvis’s death in 1977 left a lasting imprint on popular culture, and the subsequent decades have seen his legacy continually reinterpreted through music, film, and memoirs like Presley’s. Lisa Marie Presley’s death in January 2023 at age 54 added another chapter to the family’s ongoing story, reinforcing the sense that the Elvis era remains actively alive in the public imagination. As Priscilla Presley’s memoir enters the conversation about Elvis’s private life, readers will weigh the author’s perspectives against other biographical accounts and fan-driven histories that have sought to capture the complexities of a relationship that has endured as a touchstone of American culture and entertainment.