Introduction
On October 9, 1973, Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley walked into a Santa Monica courtroom to officially end a marriage that had once captivated the public. Their divorce had followed their separation in 1972, after six years of marriage and the birth of their daughter, Lisa Marie, in 1968. Yet what happened when they walked out of court became one of the most poignant images of their complicated relationship.
Photographs taken that day show Elvis and Priscilla leaving the courthouse hand in hand. According to the Los Angeles Times, they emerged arm in arm, and Elvis gave Priscilla a friendly kiss before they went their separate ways. Photographer George R. Fry later recalled that the former couple appeared affectionate and remained friends.
The gesture was striking because the legal document ending their marriage did not erase the years they had shared—or their continuing responsibility as parents. The two agreed to share custody of Lisa Marie, and accounts of their relationship describe them as remaining close after the divorce.
Priscilla later recalled holding Elvis’s hand as they left court and being concerned by his appearance. Some accounts also report that Elvis sang part of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” to her at that moment. Because this detail comes from later recollections rather than the contemporary courtroom record, it is best understood as Priscilla’s recollection rather than an independently documented event.
That is what makes the photographs from October 9, 1973, so memorable. They do not show a couple celebrating a restored marriage. They show two people accepting that their marriage was finished while still sharing affection, history, and the bond of parenthood.
Their story reminds us that sometimes an ending is not the disappearance of love—it is simply the beginning of a different relationship.