“The real power behind Elvis”
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Elvis Presley’s ex-girlfriend Barbara Hearn reveals who the singer’s true guiding light was – and it wasn’t Colonel Tom Parker!
Barbara and Presley had begun dating at a time when his dreams of stardom were becoming a reality. Hearn remembers him as a polite, big-hearted boy who loved his mother. “…he depended on her for everything, for his complete emotional well-being,” he says. “…he could go to her with any problem, she was always there for him.”
But everyone in Presley’s orbit was about to be swept away by the tidal wave of his fame. As Hearn recalls: “It seemed like overnight I’d have to send someone to find me [for dates].
We had to call theaters ahead of time and go in through a side door. It started with a handful of people outside his house who wanted to see him and talk to him. Suddenly it went from five to 10 fans to 50… to 100… and that’s why they bought Graceland. Fans were invading the house.
She noted the dramatic effect this change had on Gladys, who went from being a cheerful woman who laughed generously to a serious and subdued person. “I was worried that fans’ boyfriends would chase him out of jealousy.”
Presley himself acknowledged the impact his fame was having on his mother. On May 13, 1955, on a night now known as Presley’s first wild outing, the 20-year-old had just finished a show in Jacksonville, Florida, when he was ambushed by hundreds of screaming fans, who forced their way into his dressing room and cornered him.
Police finally rescued him from a shower stall, his shirt and jacket torn to shreds. Someone had even taken his socks and belt.
Presley knew this had upset Gladys, but he didn’t see how he could protect her. “…I was afraid they were hurting me,” he told an interviewer in 1956, as reported in Elaine Dundy’s book, “Elvis and Gladys: ‘…gee, they were just ripping my clothes off.
I didn’t care one bit. said, ‘…Mom, if you’re going to feel that way, you better not come to my shows anymore, because those things are going to keep happening…’”
Baz Luhrmann describes the fear experienced by Gladys (played by Helen Thomson) in a scene where she berates fans for mistreating Elvis after a concert. Hearn believes her difficulty in adjusting to her son’s fame was exacerbated when he moved to Graceland and felt the clash between that bubble existence and the open-air world in which he had grown up.
As Presley’s fame grew, Gladys saw less and less of her son and fans besieged her home, ringing her doorbell until the early hours of the morning.
A Florida-based Baptist preacher has denounced the singer, saying he had “…reached a new low in spiritual indecency,” comments that hurt his mother, a deeply religious woman.
“…one time, Elvis had someone over to his house for a visit and Gladys called me and said I wasn’t a lady and she didn’t like me there,” Hearn recalls. “…she was talking about Natalie Wood, who was a sophisticated, worldly woman in a way that Mrs. Presley wasn’t. She could read people well, she was nice and kind to most people, but if she saw something in you that wasn’t right, that was the end of it.
Presley purchased Graceland with its 13 acres of land in the hopes that it would give his mother the opportunity to live the outdoor life he could see she longed for.
It didn’t work.
Gladys was quickly told she could not feed her chickens outside because it was bad for Presley’s image and the house soon became filled with groupies.
Meanwhile, her busy schedule meant that the one person Gladys wanted to spend time with was never there. She began to gain weight and drink heavily. Vernon was distant and, according to Gladys’s sister Lillian, gave his wife vodka to keep the peace.
His health continued to deteriorate and when Elvis was training with the US Army in Texas, the end came.
Her son rushed back to be with her one last night, and on August 14, 1958, at just 46 years old, he died of a heart attack.
Elvis was devastated, touching the body over and over until hospital staff had to ask him to stop.
After the hearse took her away, the family returned to Graceland and Elvis and Vernon sat on the steps of the mansion sobbing. The press soon arrived and Elvis, ever the diligent pop star, was tearfully interviewed.
“…she was everything we lived for,” he exclaimed. “…she was always my best girl.” He wanted the funeral to be held at his home as was family tradition, but as usual, his manager overruled him and instead it was held at a local funeral home where 400 mourners crammed into 300 seats.
Her mother was placed in an open coffin and by the time the service began, nearly 3,000 people had filed past her body.
It took a force of 65 police officers to control the crowd. So distraught was Presley that he had to be helped out of the car. He nearly collapsed several times during the service, crying out, ‘…I lived my life for you! Everything I have is gone.
According to family and friends, Presley changed completely after his mother’s death. “It was the end of the world for him,” says Hearn, who attended the funeral, even though she was no longer in a relationship with Elvis by that time.
‘…he was never the same after that; he lost his way. She was the beacon he followed; she was his everything. He was never happy after she died.’
Source: Daily Mail
Information provided from Elvis Shop Argentina. https://www.facebook.com/elvis.shop.argentina
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