Who should Elvis have married? I am asked very often which woman Elvis Presley should have married. Or perhaps more accurately, which woman would truly have been the best wife for him. It is one of those questions people remain endlessly fascinated by because Elvis’s romantic life has over the years almost become a mythology of its own.
But I think one of the first things that needs to be understood is that Elvis had many female friends throughout his life who were exactly that, friends. The public often assumes every woman around Elvis was part of some great romance. But that simply was not always the case. And another thing people must remember is unless someone was actually present during deep, private, and intimate moments, which of course they were not, much of what is often spoke about Elvis’s relationships ultimately becomes speculation,
interpretation, second-hand story hand storytelling, or outright hearsay. Even stories supposedly coming from Elvis himself must sometimes be understood in context. Elvis had a tremendous sense of humor. He teased constantly. He exaggerated. He joked. And he loved getting reactions from people. Sometimes he was serious.
Sometimes he was being mischievous. And not every comment he made automatically should be interpretated literally decades later after as as historical fact. That is important to understand when people now attempt to psychoanalyze every relationship Elvis Elvis ever had. Among the women most frequently discussed is Linda Thompson.
Linda is often remembered almost romantically in retrospect as the perfect one. People speak about how well she cared for Elvis, how she fitted in with the guys, how easy-going she was, and how she became one of the boys. And to be absolutely fair, much of that is probably true. Linda certainly understood understood aspects of Elvis’s world better than many people did.
And she cared deeply for Elvis. But the reality people sometimes avoid confronting is the relationship still ended. Elvis moved on. He had spoken about that around the house. Life continued moving forward. Yet over time, Linda’s place in Elvis’s history has almost become elevated into something idealized as though she was unquestionably destined to become the perfect Mrs. Presley.
Whether that would have actually have proven true in the long run is another matter entirely. One thing that certainly cannot be denied is that Linda’s relationship with Elvis helped shape the trajectory of her life very significantly. It opened enormous doors and brought tremendous visibility and opportunity.
That is simply reality. Now, personally, there are certain stories Linda has shared publicly over the years that I have never particularly liked hearing repeated. One example is the famous soup story. Where she described Elvis supposedly falling unconscious into a bowl of soup. Stories like that trouble me somewhat.
Not necessarily because I believe they were invented. But because I question whether every vulnerable private moment truly needs to become public storytelling decades later. And context matters. Elvis suffered terribly with insomnia. People who have never experienced severe sleep deprivation often do not fully understand what prolonged exhaustion can do physically and mentally to a person.
Someone who has barely slept properly for days can absolutely nod off unexpectedly. Or appear disoriented without it necessarily meaning the dramatic conclusions later attached to such moments. And Linda herself was also very young at the time. I sometimes wonder whether she fully understood what she was witnessing medically, emotionally.
Or physiologically. In those In those moments or whether years later those memories became reframed through hindsight and public narrative. I’m not attacking Linda at all. I am simply suggesting that perspective is rarely as simple or as definitive as people later make it sound. Then of course there was Ginger Alden.
Elvis’s final official love interest. Ginger to me always felt somewhat different around the family. She did not entirely gel naturally with the wider Presley family dynamic. At least not from my perspective. There was a certain distance there. A kind of reserve. And we will truly never get to know her deeply.
Now, whether that would have changed over time, perhaps it might have. After all, Ginger was extremely young and was suddenly placed inside an enormously unusual environment surrounded not only by Elvis, but by his extended family, longtime employees, security men, and the entire complicated ecosystem that existed around Graceland.
That would have been overwhelming for almost anyone. But Elvis was deeply connected to his family. People sometimes underestimate just how important family was to him emotionally. And whoever became Elvis’s wife would in many ways also become part of that larger family world. And I do think closeness and ease within that family structure would have mattered greatly in the long run.
Of course, hindsight is always perfect. It is the great luxury human beings possess after events are over. People look backwards with a confidence of information they did not actually possess while living through those moments. But when I honestly reflect upon the question of which woman may truly have been the best wife for Elvis, my own answer remains Anita Wood, without question.
The entire family adored Anita. Aunt Gladys loved her. Uncle Vernon thought very highly of her. Everyone respected her. And she was always incredibly kind to me personally. Despite the age difference between us, she always had time for me. She would show me how to do my hair, talk about makeup, laugh with me, and make me feel included.
Trust me, that tells you a great deal about a person. Anita was warm naturally, not performative, not trying to impress anyone. She fit effortlessly into the family, and perhaps most importantly of all, she genuinely loved Elvis before the mythology surrounding Elvis Presley had fully consumed the world around him.
There was something grounded about Anita, something sincere. She was talented, capable, emotionally steady, and very self-sufficient in her own right. Anita did not project helplessness. She carried herself with quiet confidence and maturity. Over the years, it has often been suggested that Elvis came to feel protective for Priscilla, that he believed she needed safeguarding and guidance in ways Anita had never appeared to acquire.
Whether that influenced Elvis emotionally, only he truly knew. But Anita was not fragile. She was strong within herself. She was willing to sacrifice aspects of her own career in order to fit into Elvis’s life and support him fully. That says a great deal about the depth of her commitment to him. Of course, I have often reflected on the heartbreaking moment Anita often overheard Elvis speaking with Uncle Barney and admitting that he did not know whether he should choose Anita or Priscilla.
When I think about that, honestly, I believe Anita was simply deeply hurt, and very understandably so. I think what had happened wounded her profoundly, and she reached a point emotionally where she could no longer continue living in uncertainty or emotional pain. People sometimes forget how painful these situations were for the women Elvis was involved in as well.
The breakup affected all of us deeply. We truly loved Anita. And one thing I always respected enormously was that Anita continued keeping in touch with grandma and the family afterwards. To us, that mattered. Because it showed that her love had not only been for Elvis the star. It had been for all of us. For the family. For the life.
For the connection itself. And perhaps that, more than anything else, is why so many of us still remember Anita Wood with such affection all these years later. I am Presley and I stay. >>
