Priscilla Presley gets love from fans in Utah — including some Osmonds

As Priscilla Presley’s panel at Salt Lake City’s FanX was coming to a close, the moderator turned to her and asked her to share something she wanted those in attendance to know about her.
“About me?” Presley said with a laugh. “I’m a private person. I don’t tell things about myself.”
To some extent, it was a joke. Presley was thrust in the spotlight at a young age as she became involved with Elvis Presley at 14.
In the years following Elvis’ death, she began her own career in the film industry and released a memoir about her romance with the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll — a reflection that recently got the cinematic treatment from director Sofia Coppola.
But, as Presley made clear during the FanX convention — which tens of thousands of people attended over three days — her presence in the public is primarily about one thing: keeping the spirit of Elvis alive.
While Elvis has certainly never faded from the spotlight, she said, there has been renewed interest in him due in part to films like Coppola’s “Priscilla” and Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis.”
“That really fuels me a lot to be able to share him. I never used to want to share him before, back in the day,” she joked to a crowd of a few hundred fans. “A lot of kids now are very, very fascinated with him, and it’s just nice to see that they ask about him, want to know more about him. They come from about 7 years old all the way up to 80. That’s my mission, is for me to have the younger generation know who he was … who he was and what he stood for.”
A number of young fans did attend the panel — including the grandson of Alan Osmond, one of the original Osmond Brothers.
“My family was good friends with Elvis,” Alan Osmond’s son told Presley, before introducing his own son. “You probably remember the Osmond family?”
“Of course!” Presley said as people in the crowd began to cheer.
“All I know is what my father has told me about him, and my grandmother had gospel discussions with him on the phone,” Alan Osmond’s son shared. “We just love your family so much.”
Alan Osmond’s grandson, who’s also a “big Elvis fan,” then asked Presley to share one of her favorite memories of the singer.
She was fairly quick with her response.
“His laughter,” she said. “When he laughed, everyone laughed. It was contagious. I think about that a lot. … It was just really beautiful — you just couldn’t help but laugh with him.”
Fans at the panel were visibly excited to have the chance to talk to Presley.
“I just can’t believe I’m in front of the First Lady of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” one attendee said.
Fans said words and phrases like “starstruck” and “dream come true” as they shared their admiration for Presley — and she got a lot of cheers when she did her best “Thank you very much” Elvis impression.
For about 50 minutes, Presley shared some of her fondest memories involving Elvis — everything from his proposal to laughing while watching Johnny Carson to going to the movies on practically a nightly basis.
His best quality, she said, was his personality.
“He had the best personality. He was so loving, he was caring. He had a great love for his father and especially his mother, who when he lost, he actually lost a little bit of him. They were very, very close,” she said. “He was just fun to be around, great laugh.”
During the panel, Presley praised the recent films that are helping to keep Elvis’ name alive.
Austin Butler’s portrayal of Elvis in Luhrmann’s film was “unbelievable,” she said, noting that the actor “did his homework” and spent two years developing that role.
She told Butler that she didn’t want him to lose himself in the role, though.
“I didn’t want him to become Elvis, meaning once he did the character that he would … act like Elvis, be like Elvis. So I told him please don’t lose who you are because … you’re a great actor.”
Presley’s advice to Cailee Spaeny, who portrayed her in “Priscilla,” was a little more personal. She said she told Spaeny “to be sensitive” toward Elvis in the film.
“I wanted her just to be there for him, and I think she did a good job,” Presley said.
But Presley wasn’t completely on board with the film’s ending, noting that she wished producers had given Coppola a little more time to flesh out some of the details.
While “Priscilla” ends with Presley asking for a divorce and leaving Graceland, she said the actual moment took place in Las Vegas the morning after a show. Presley told fans how reluctant she was to tell her husband it was time for her to move on, to tell him she wasn’t happy and that she needed to find her own way.
“I was always waiting for him and taking care of him, which to this day, I still love him very, very much,” she said. “He was an amazing human being — very lovable, truly very lovable.”
FanX is the latest in Presley’s continual efforts to make sure Elvis is remembered.
As her panel came to a close and she was asked to share something about herself, Presley briefly described herself as caring and down to earth before she put the spotlight back on everybody else — Elvis and his fans.
“I love the fact that all of you are here today,” she said. “I love the fact that Elvis is still today almost as important as he was in his lifetime. The amount of people that still come to see him (at Graceland) is just unbelievable, the love that they have for him.
“I miss him very, very much.”