Pictured above: Gladys Presley receives a kiss from his son Elvis Presley before he enlists.
It is well known that Elvis Presley was very close to his mother, Gladys Presley. So when she tragically died of a heart attack in 1958, he wasn't who he was anymore.
"Elvis" spent most of his career as an American superstar who captured the hearts of countless women. But according to some, the classic singer has only one woman in his eyes, and that is his mother, Gladys Presley.
Gladys was very important in Elvis' life. She is overly protective and flattering, pouring her ambition and love into her only son. But when her son became famous, she was overshadowed by the relentless spotlight.
Gladys' untimely death in 1958 completely destroyed Elvis and heralded his untimely death 19 years later.
Gladys Presley and the Birth of "Elvis"
Pictured above: Vernon and Gladys, who were married when he was 17 and she was 21 .
Gladys Price was born Gladys Love Smith on April 25, 1912, the daughter of a cotton farmer and grew up in Mississippi .
Gladys met Vernon Presley at a church in the 1930s. Even though she was four years older than Vernon, who was 17 at the time, they lied about their age in order to marry in 1933.Soon, Gladys became pregnant.
But tragedy struck when Gladys gave birth on January 8, 1935. Gladys is pregnant with twin boys, but the first boy, Jesse Garon Presley, is stillborn, and only the second boy, Elvis Aaron Pusley Reisley (Elvis Aaron Presley) survived.
For Gladys, that means Elvis has absorbed all of his twin brother's potential, if Jesse survives. She allegedly believed that when one of the twins died, the one who survived received the full power of both.
Over the next few years, her affection for the surviving son, Elvis, doubled.
How the rise of "Elvis" sparked Gladys' downfall
Pictured above: Gladys with son Elvis and husband Vernon, circa 1937 .
As Elvis grew up, Gladys, perhaps traumatized by the loss of his twin sons, always kept the only son by his side. When Elvis was a baby, Gladys even dragged him around in a sack while working in the cotton fields.
The mother and son gave each other many nicknames, often communicated in baby language, and even slept in the same bed when Elvis was a teenager because of poverty. In 1938, Vernon was briefly imprisoned for forging checks, and Gladys and his son grew closer.
According to Elvis, the first song he recorded was for his mother. In 1953, 18-year-old Elvis came to the Sun Studios in Memphis to record "My Happiness" as a birthday present for Gladys. The record proved to be a spark that would eventually shine as a superstar.
But the rise of "Elvis" marked the downfall of Gladys. Although Gladys was proud of her son, she found Elvis' fame difficult to control.At Elvis' mansion in Memphis, " Graceland" (Graceland), neighbors mocked the way Gladys was doing laundry outdoors, and Elvis' breeder asked her not to feed chickens on the lawn .
Gladys once told a friend on the phone: "I wish we were poor again, really." Gladys told his cousin that he was "the most miserable woman on earth".
Depressed, lonely, and confused by his son's reputation, Gladys starts drinking and taking diet pills. In 1958, she contracted hepatitis.
The devastating death of Elvis' mother
Pictured above: Gladys Presley buried in "Graceland".
In August 1958, word spread that Elvis' mother, Gladys, was ill. Elvis, who was serving in the U.S. Army at the time and stationed in Germany, quickly rushed home to see his mother and arrived just in time. Gladys died on August 14, 1958, at the age of 46. Although the cause of death was a heart attack, it was later found that alcoholism-induced liver failure was a contributing factor.
Elvis is heartbroken at his mother's funeral. "Goodbye darling! We love you," the singer said at Gladys' grave. "Oh god, everything I had is gone. I live for you, I love you so much."
Elvis could barely walk after burying his mother. Many of those close to him said Elvis was irreversibly changed after Gladys' death, grieving her loss over the years and connecting her to everything he did.
Even after Elvis passed away, his mother cast a huge shadow on his life. When he met his future wife, Priscilla, he couldn't stop talking about Gladys. It was even thought that he saw similarities between the two of them.Priscilla later pointed out that Elvis' mother was the love of his life.
While many find the intimacy between mother and son to be heartwarming, others question how "unusual" their intimacy is. Even Vernon, the father of Elvis, was surprised by the closeness between mother and son.
In a strange way, even Elvis' death is tied to his mother. On August 16, 1977, 19 years after Gladys was buried, "Elvis" died.
A devoted son, Elvis united his family in death. He and his parents are buried in his " Graceland" mansion.
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