Benjamin Ashford|Fact checking 'Priscilla': Did Elvis and Priscilla Presley really take LSD together?

Last year,Benjamin Ashford Baz Luhrmann's glitzy biopic "Elvis" told the rollicking if tragic story of the Memphis icon, earning the film's star Austin Butler an Oscar best actor nomination in the process.

Now comes "Priscilla" (in theaters nationwide Friday), director Sofia Coppola's retelling of a hefty slice of that same tale from the perspective of Priscilla Beaulieu Presley, who met Elvis in Germany when she was 14 and divorced him amicably at 28.

"Priscilla" anchors its Elvis drama to his ex-wife's 1985 memoir "Elvis and Me," and benefited from the now 78-year-old author's input on her time with the boyish yet beleaguered star. While the emphasis was on the roller-coaster ride she went on with the singer, "it was important to her that Elvis come off in a way that was true," says Coppola.

All of the movie's often intimate scenes are Priscilla's version of events, obviously unchallengeable by the other party, given Elvis's premature death at age 42 in 1977. But many fascinating interactions beg for more of the backstory. USA TODAY asks Suzanne Finstad, who interviewed Priscilla Presley extensively for her 1997 book "Child Bride: The Untold Story of Priscilla Beaulieu Presley," to shed light on those moments.

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Did Priscilla Presley use drugs with Elvis?

To keep himself movie-star slim and energetic onstage, Elvis had already embraced a steady intake of "uppers, downers and diet pills" by the time Priscilla came from Germany to visit him over the holidays, says Finstad. Believing such drugs were safe because they were prescribed by doctors, Elvis encouraged his young paramour to do the same to keep up with his hours.

"Elvis' sleeping pill was Placidyl, a 'sedative-hypnotic,' essentially a knockout pill for short-term use," she says. "Priscilla told me when I interviewed her that she spent two days in Elvis' bedroom that Christmas in a Placidyl-induced coma."

"Priscilla" also depicts the couple experimenting with LSD together. Though Elvis was emphatically opposed to recreational drugs, he decided to try the hallucinogen under the guidance of his spiritual adviser Larry Geller to explore whether there is another level of consciousness.

"Elvis didn’t take his full dose and never tried LSD again. But it was Priscilla’s reaction to dropping acid that made an impression," Finstad says. "According to Geller, Priscilla freaked out and ran from mirror to mirror screaming that she was ugly, and then she sobbed at Elvis’ feet that he really didn’t love her."

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Did Priscilla's parents really let her date Elvis when she was 14?

"Here's where the film turns to magic realism, probably to protect her parents' role," says Finstad. While Priscilla's military stepfather, Paul Beaulieu, was circumspect about the relationship between his daughter, 14, and the singer, 24, her mother, Ann, was a big Elvis fan who was supportive of the meetings.

"Priscilla had no parental restrictions (and followed) him into his bedroom alone nearly every night until midnight or later," says Finstad. "The Memphis pals who shared his house in Germany, and the girls waiting in the living room for their turn (with Elvis), told me they observed Elvis' brazen behavior with Priscilla and worried they'd be put in jail for Elvis' wooing of an underage schoolgirl in his room."

Of note, in 1957, fellow rock 'n' roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13-year-old cousin, Myra, a scandal that derailed his career. While Elvis would have been aware of those consequences, he did "have a sweet spot for 14-year-olds, a kink of the rural South," Finstad says. "He told her he felt sexual pressure to perform like a superstar. Virginal young girls were his comfort zone."

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Did the relationship between Elvis and Priscilla Presley include sex games and role playing?

In "Priscilla," Elvis and Priscilla are seen dressed up in costumes while in bed, sometimes taking Polaroid pictures of each other during these private moments. Finstad says the scenes are true to form.

"I was surprised when Priscilla told me about this, but it reveals her extreme drive, the desperation and degradation she was willing to endure as a teenager to achieve her goal to please Elvis so he'd marry her," she says.

Priscilla told Finstad that Elvis did get aroused by role playing, which included having his young girlfriend dress up "as a nurse, a secretary, or a schoolgirl, and Elvis took Polaroids of her." Those romps sometimes included other girls, Finstad adds. But nudity wasn't necessarily on the table. Joe Esposito, Elvis' Army buddy and road manager, told Finstad the girls were always in white underwear, as Elvis placed a premium on virginity.

Did Elvis have an affair with Ann-Margret while dating Priscilla?

Indeed, "Ann-Margret was the one who might have changed the legend of Elvis and Priscilla," says Finstad.

The still-sizzling scenes between the two actors in their 1964 movie "Viva Las Vegas" reflected the chemistry between them, and Priscilla "obsessively analyzed Elvis's infrequent phone calls for clues, studied the gossip columns, and played his records for coded messages," the author says. "Despite his constant denials, Elvis had numerous affairs with co-stars, script girls, background dancers, costumers, stand-ins."

Priscilla even "dyed her black hair Ann-Margret red to compete for Elvis' attention," Finstad says. In the end, Elvis broke off the affair and committed to marrying Priscilla. They wed on May 1, 1967, despite a conflict on his calendar: "A scheduled date with longtime girlfriend Sandy Ferra."

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Did Priscilla really ask Elvis to wait outside her high school graduation?

Sister Mary Adrien, principal of Immaculate Conception, the Memphis high school that Priscilla attended in 1963, told Finstad that Elvis and Priscilla both decided he would remain outside the church during the evening graduation. "Elvis didn't want to take attention away from the girls who were graduating, and (Sister Mary) said she 'really appreciated his sensitivity.' " 

Mayhem ensued after the real-life ceremony, which informs a scene where Elvis is seen posing for pictures with the nuns, says Finstad.

"Everyone inside, the female graduates, their families and the nuns, ran out the door hoping to get a glimpse of Elvis Presley, who was leaning against the side of a black limousine waiting for Priscilla," she says. "According to Sister Rose Marie, one of the nuns who taught Priscilla and who was present for the graduation ceremony, Elvis patiently signed autographs, 'cordial and courteous and a gentleman.' "   

Did Priscilla actually apply false eyelashes on her way to give birth to Lisa Marie Presley?

Priscilla knew Elvis had a type and she was determined to become that ideal vision of a woman: long black hair, tight clothes and dramatic eye makeup. Finstad adds that Esposito once said, "She was a little doll that he took and moved around, dressed her up the way he wanted to."

Elvis was of a generation where many men expected their wives "to present themselves to their husbands," says Finstad, even to the point where they would come to bed ready to make love "powdered, perfumed and perfectly made up. Priscilla was born for the role."

That desire to please had a dark side. "In a poignant confession," Finstad says, Priscilla described "the night she took an overdose of pills in a bid for Elvis' attention. She styled her hair and did her makeup painstakingly, even arranging her body on the bed for Elvis to discover her − dead, alive or in a coma − looking exquisite."