<p id=”par-1_71″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/elvis-presley/?swcfpc=1″>Elvis Presley</a> met the future Priscilla Presley when he was <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/elvis-felt-superior-army-purposely-embarrassing.html/”>in the army</a>. Elvis was stationed in Germany, where Priscilla lived on the military base with her family. At the time, Priscilla was only a freshman in high school, but he still pursued a relationship with her. After he returned to the United States, Priscilla flew to Los Angeles to visit him. She said she noticed a definite change in him.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-priscilla-presley-said-elvis-changed-when-he-left-the-army”>Priscilla Presley said Elvis changed when he left the army</h2>
<p id=”par-2_38″>When Elvis moved back to the United States, he remained <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/priscilla-presley-months-without-speaking-elvis-left-germany.html/”>in sporadic communication</a> with Priscilla. Eventually, though, he invited her to visit him in California. While she was happy to see him, she noticed a change in him.</p>
<p id=”par-3_45″>“I couldn’t help noticing that there had been a slight change in Elvis,” she told <a href=”https://people.com/archive/cover-story-we-have-plenty-of-time-little-one-vol-23-no-11/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>People</a>. “He’d left Germany a gentle, sensitive, and insecure boy; through the course of the evening, I’d see that he now was mischievous and self-confident to the point of cockiness.”</p>
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<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-width=”550″ data-dnt=”true”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Elvis Presley in the army, 1958 <a href=”https://t.co/GeeUWPkBI4″>pic.twitter.com/GeeUWPkBI4</a></p>— Lost in Time (@LostInTimeVids) <a href=”https://twitter.com/LostInTimeVids/status/1953368941629256167?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>August 7, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
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<p id=”par-4_11″>She also <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/elvis-flew-terrible-rages-seem-selfish-big-headed-things-way.html/”>noticed his temper flaring</a> more frequently than ever before.</p>
<p id=”par-5_45″>“He also seemed quick to anger,” she said. “When a girl cautioned him to watch out for a glass that was perched precariously on the edge of the pool table, he shot her a dirty look, as if to tell her, ‘Move the glass yourself.’”</p>
<p id=”par-6_9″>Still, Priscilla tried not to let this worry her.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-priscilla-felt-devastated-when-she-said-goodbye-to-him”>Priscilla felt devastated when she said goodbye to him</h2>
<p id=”par-7_24″>She was so happy to see him because his departure from Germany had left her devastated. She dreaded his return to the United States. </p>
<p id=”par-8_39″>“It was March 1, 1960, the night before Elvis was to leave Germany to return to the States,” she said. “We were lying on his bed, our arms around each other. I was in a state of complete despair.”</p>
<p id=”par-9_6″>Priscilla said she cried without ceasing.</p>
<p id=”par-10_59″>“That night our lovemaking was especially passionate,” she said. “Would I ever see him again, be in his arms the way I had been nearly every night for the past six months? I could not bear the thought of the night ending and us saying goodbye for what I thought would be the last time. I wept and wept.”</p>
<p id=”par-11_8″>After he left, she was despondent for days. </p>
<p id=”par-12_37″>“For the two days after Elvis left, I locked myself in my room, unable to eat, unable to sleep,” she said. “Finally, I forced myself to go to school and found myself swamped by reporters and photographers.”</p>
<p id=”par-13_15″>It didn’t help that she soon heard reports that he was involved with other women.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-the-beatles-also-thought-elvis-presley-s-time-in-the-army-changed-him”>The Beatles also thought Elvis Presley’s time in the Army changed him</h2>
<p id=”par-14_33″>Priscilla wasn’t the only person who noticed a change in Elvis after his time in the Army. The Beatles, who had been longtime fans of his music, thought it had <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/what-paul-mccartney-and-john-lennon-believed-ruined-elvis-presley-in-the-50s.html/”>negatively impacted him</a>.</p>
<p id=”par-15_45″>“Up until [then] I thought it was beautiful music,” John Lennon said, per <em>The Beatles Anthology</em>. “But after he went into the army, I think they cut ‘les bollocks’ off. They not only shaved his hair off; I think they shaved between his legs, too.”</p>
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<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-width=”550″ data-dnt=”true”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>“Before Elvis there was nothing. If there hadn’t been Elvis, there wouldn’t have been the Beatles.” – John Lennon<br> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/ElvisPresley?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#ElvisPresley</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/HappyBirthday?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#HappyBirthday</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Elvis2018?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Elvis2018</a> <a href=”https://t.co/fXgcVKg1lH”>pic.twitter.com/fXgcVKg1lH</a></p>— ReinventMusic (@ktanaka13) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ktanaka13/status/950283020698660865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>January 8, 2018</a></blockquote><script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
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<p id=”par-16_12″>Lennon believed Elvis never reestablished the artistry that made him a star.</p>
<p id=”par-17_23″>“Elvis really died the day he joined the army,” he said. “That’s when they killed him, and the rest was a living death.”</p>
<p id=”par-18_18″>Paul McCartney agreed. While he wasn’t quite as harsh as his bandmate, he didn’t like Elvis’ new image.</p>
<p id=”par-19_51″>“I always thought [his time in the military] ruined Elvis,” Paul said in the book <em>Many Years From Now </em>by Barry Miles. “We liked Elvis’ freedom as a trucker, as a guy in jeans and swivelin’ hips, but didn’t like him with the short haircut in the army calling everyone ‘sir.’”</p>
<p id=”par-20_15″>Still, they looked forward to meeting Elvis in 1965, years after he left the army.</p>