Priscilla Presley addresses age difference between her and Elvis Presley

Priscilla Presley addresses age difference between her and Elvis Presley

Priscilla Presley has opened up about her early romance with Elvis Presley.

During Monday's press conference for the Sofia Coppola film, Priscilla, at the Venice Film Festival, Priscilla cleared the air regarding her famed relationship with the King of Rock and Roll.

Priscilla, who was 14 at the time, met the Jailhouse Rock hitmaker, then 24, while he was serving in the army and stationed in Germany.

"It was very difficult for my parents to understand that Elvis would be so interested in me, and why, and I really do think (it was) because I was more of a listener," the 78-year-old explained. "Elvis would pour his heart out to me every way in Germany - his fears, his hopes, the loss of his mother, which he never, ever got over - and I was the person who really, really sat there to listen, and to comfort him. That was really our connection."

Priscilla insisted that the performer never took advantage of her young age.

"Even though I was 14, I was actually a little bit older in life, not in numbers. That was the attraction," the actress said. "People think, 'Oh, it was sex,' 'It was this.' Not at all. I never had sex with him (then). He was very kind, very soft, and very loving, but he also respected the fact that I was 14 years old."

She added, "We were more in mind and thought, and that was our relationship."

Priscilla also revealed the music legend appreciated that she kept their romance under wraps in the early days.

"That was another issue that he loved: I never gave him up in any way. I never told anyone at school I was seeing him," she noted.

Describing Elvis as "the love of (her) life", Priscilla shared that she left him because she found the lifestyle "so difficult".

"We still remained very close, and of course, we had our daughter, and I made sure that he saw her all the time. It was like we never left each other - so I want to make that clear," she added.

The pair tied the knot in 1967 but later divorced in 1973. They shared one child, Lisa Marie Presley, who passed away early this year.