Elvis' cousin shares what he was really like to live with - and tragic 'envy' admission
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Elvis Presley fans are sure to be ‘All Shook Up’ next week, when they mark what would have been the King of Rock and Roll’s 90th birthday. January 8 will be a particularly poignant anniversary for his first cousin Donna Presley, 74, who will be in Nashville USA, hosting a celebration of his life.
Fifteen years younger than the Love Me Tender singer, who died, aged 42, bloated and drug addled in the bathroom of his Graceland home on 16 August 1977, she was like the little sister he never had - his twin brother Jesse having died at birth. From the age of 10, in 1960, Donna lived with her mum, Nashval, dad, William Pritchett and sister Suzie in a plush mobile home on the Graceland estate, while work was done on the iconic house. Her dad was estate manager for this and Elvis’ earlier Circle G ranch in Mississippi, where they had also lived.
Speaking exclusively to The Mirror, Donna, who eventually worked in the Graceland office for Elvis’ dad Vernon, says: “He was always just Elvis to us. We were a close extended family and that’s why so many of us lived on the estate or worked for him.”.
Now a roving ambassador for the Presley family, travelling the world telling fans the stories of their lives, she says global success made him like a “bird in a gilded cage,” unable to know who he could trust. “Elvis had nicknames for everyone - mine was Donnie,” she says. “When I was 18, we were chatting in our grandmother’s room. He was sat on the floor and said, “I envy you, Donnie, as people like you for you. I don’t have that luxury. I never know if someone likes me because I am Elvis or Elvis Presley.’”.
