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 - The missing jigsaw pieceLucy's story provides some answers to many questions I have had about Elvis' life, music and his relationships with people. To date, I have read like twenty books on him, and listened to countless songs and still wondered why he did this, why he sang this, why, why, why. There is still that sense of mystery about him that people until today cannot uncover. Despite the numerous testimonies, reports, accounts, photos that chronicled his life by people who claimed to know him intimately, almost on a day-to-day basis, no one could explain his deep loneliness, his excesses, his 'womanizing' and so on despite his great fame and fortune. Yet at the same time, he was described as highly intelligent, sensitive, discerning, deeply religious and knowledgeable. All his friends and family members professed their deep love for him. The women in his life claimed to be truly in love with him. With this much love around, why wasn't it enough? What did he want? What was he still looking for? For an intelligent, talented and philosophical man, it does not make sense if he was merely sex-hungry, a drug abuser and materialistic. People who knew him closely remembered him as a fun-loving,kind and generous person yet a few of them pointed out that he was deeply lonely and sad at the same time. On Lucy's side, it does not make sense for her to write a fictitious tale about her obsession and fantasy with Elvis, putting her daughter's face to public scrutiny and criticism just for a fun ride. She has become a respectable woman with intelligence and reputation. No mother, in her right mind would want to display such behaviour to her children. Like Elvis, she comes across as someone who has deep insecurities and fears,in search of her own happiness with him. In the end, both of them failed to realise their happiness together. Lucy has achieved two things in her book; one,she has given her daughter, Desiree, her true identity which was denied of her until now. Two, she has given us, an insight into Elvis' state of mind and personal beliefs which he never shared with anyone.He showed us a different side of his - his vulnerability and naiveness about relationships, his deep fears of others' motives to the point of paranoia, his insecurities of not being loved. He cried many times with her, something his close friends or even girlfriends have rarely mentioned. With Lucy, he often brings his guard down. One interesting point he made in the 70s was that he needed the pills to keep on working. The drugs were also his lifeline. He also told her, he would block out everything except his thoughts of her when he was performing. Many times he told her that he was exhausted by the endless tours. Yet Lucy's story cannot explain why he did not just cancel or shorten the tours if the going was too tough, why can't he exercise some control. Lucy had asked him but he never gave her a satisfying answer. We still cannot understand completely why Elvis behaved this way, as if, he had no power to change a thing. If you believed Lucy's story, like I do, you probably understand why he never settled down with any woman after he met Lucy. He loved Lucy but couldn't have her despite his millions so his fortune couldn't make him happy. To me, he gave it away since Lucy never wanted his wealth and his mother never lived to enjoy it. He had beautiful women around him yet not one of them could stay in his heart for long, except Lucy. His relationship with Lucy debunked a popular theory that he would never have a relationship with a married woman or could never have sex with one whose had a child, like his own wife. Yet he and Lucy met secretly and had a healthy sexual relationship. The last conversation between them(one week before his death)was very touching and heartbreaking. Finally both of them are making plans to be together, to get married immediately after his August tours. They reaffirmed their love for one another, like they had when he was eighteen on the grassy hill. Lucy even hinted at him about Desiree. I believed Elvis had guessed the good news she had planned to tell him upon his return so he was in very high spirits when the conversation ended. He told her that now he had something good to look forward to, a reason to live. I truly believe that the last week of his life he had been happy because of this last conversation. He, in fact, sent her a rose that was delieved to her the day after his death with a message that he'll return. This seems to fit another account where he had told his personal bodyguard the day before that the August tour would be 'his best ever'. If you believed this story,the rumour that he had killed himself over the book 'Elvis, what happened?'is just a rumour. Elvis had been a happy man in the last days of his life, thanks to Lucy. His spirit was renewed but his body just gave up on him. What a tragic end to a beautiful love story. Rating:  - WHAT'S NOT TO BELIEVE??I was skeptical before buying the book that there could possibly be a story out there that I hadn't heard about Elvis. Especially a story as major as this one...I had read dozens of Elvis books and saw all the movies and documentaries, and i had never even heard the name Lucy de Barbin before this. When I sat down to read it, I expected to read some sort of unbelievable yet entertaining delusional fantasy about Elvis, but was surprised that the story and all the facts in the book were actually very believable and possible. Some find it hard to believe that such secrets could have been kept for so long, but times were different then. People did keep secrets because there were so many things that were looked upon as shameful and disgraceful during that era. Everything is different today because of the media and paparazzi, but back then, private lives were kept private and Ms. de Barbin's reasons for keeping this affair to herself are completely valid. The facts in the book mesh with everything else I've learned about Elvis over the years and even answer a few unanswered questions that I'm sure many Elvis fans have wondered about. Read it for yourself before you form your opinion. It is a wonderful love story as well as a gift to Elvis fans everywhere. P.S. As far as the eye color debate goes...I have blue eyes and both of my parents' eyes are BROWN. Go figure. Rating:  - Book is not believable, but not because of eye colorI read this book many years ago and I also did not find it believable, but not because of the eye color. It is possible for a brown-eyed person and blue-eyed person to conceive a green-eyed child. I have dk brown eyes, my husband has blue and one of our two children has green eyes. My father and grandmother both had green eyes which my son obviously inherited. Rating:  - Hard to beliveI find this book hard to belive first of all Lucy says her daughter looks just like her father Elvis I do not think she looks at all like Elvis from the pictures in the book. then she talks of her and Elvis always wanting to be together but when Elvis tells her over and over that they should be together then Lucy keeps saying no we can't. and then when Lucy says she was ready to tell Elvis about their daughter he passes away before she can tell him and the last thing that really got me was lucy was going to take her daughter to graceland to meet her grandfather Elvis's dad but again right before they are to go he also passes away. really! if Lucy really wants people to belive her story then her daughter should take a DNA test then we will all know the truth. Rating: - Elvis and Lucy - does anyone know the whole truth?Lucy's life was filled with fear, doubt and terror. Losing her father so abruptly at age 3 and going from being well off to homeless in a few short days, this was a great shock and trauma for such a young child. Added to this, a very cruel grandmother forced her at age 11, to marry a much older man, who was an alcoholic, rapist and child abuser. Lucy had her first baby at age 12 and by age 17 she had 3 children. She wanted to keep people from finding out the age she was when she was married, and the ages of her children. Because she felt these were dark things, things to be deeply ashamed of. To her young, traumatized mind, she felt she had a dark past, when in fact, she was innocent and needed the world of help, and the darkness was done to her by others. As a result of feeling such deep shame and feeling she was responsible for the dark things that were done to her, she lived her life in great fear, always guarded, and felt she had to be as secretive as possible. At her age and at that time she did not feel secure enough to let people find out. She thought she would be judged and condemned and thought of as "not good enough". This is very unfortunate. I don't know what the people of that era would have said or done. I am certain in this era she would be seen as an innocent, abused child. It is with this state of mind that Lucy lived her life. It is possible she was able to keep secrets very well because of her extreme fear. She said she met Elvis when she was 16 and he was 18. That was the year Elvis graduated from high school - 1953. She said they were in love and he wanted to marry her, that they did take their vows in the presence of God. He called her Desiree, which in French means desired one. According to Lucy, she didn't see how it could work out because she realized that Elvis was headed for success and would be in the public eye. This was the only man she ever loved and she didn't want her "dark past" to be revealed because it would hurt his success. She encouraged him to pursue his career because she knew how much it meant to him. She ran away so he could feel free to meet others and go on with his life without her. In 1954 he was dating Dixie and he was her graduation date. They were seeing each other but his career was taking off and they started growing apart because Elvis was on the road most of the time. They went their different ways. Dixie met someone and got married. Elvis searched for Lucy and found her in 1955. He still wanted to marry her. She still couldn't see how things could work out for them, he was more famous than ever. She ran away again in 1957 - she was pregnant with her daughter who she named Desiree. She was afraid to tell Elvis about the child, because he would own her publicly. She was terrified of what the press would do not only to Desiree but to her other children, also herself and Elvis's career. This was the main reason everything was kept so secret. The book goes on about what happened as the years went by. A lot of people doubt how truthful Lucy is. The following could be food for thought. Elvis knew how to ride a horse at that time. The Memphis zoo rented them. Lucy has green eyes and in her book, Elvis said 'if they had a little girl she would be precious and have green eyes and say really! actually! like Lucy.' O'Grady, who had a career in the police force later went to do security work for Elvis. He knows that the name "Desiree" was on the list of calls that must be accepted for Elvis at all times. Elvis made arrangements with Lucy to meet him in Washington. Everyone in his entourage knew he travelled there alone. They had no idea why. After he spent time with Lucy, he took a plane and went one way and Lucy took a plane and went a different way. He did not go back to Graceland, he contacted Jerry Schilling and Red West to meet him and he went back to Washington, this time he met with President Nixon. According to several accounts including Joe Esposito, after Priscilla went to live at Graceland, Elvis's feelings towards her changed. He did not want to be married to her. She began asking regularly when will they be married and he kept stalling by saying, when the time is right he would know. She would then complain to her stepfather, Mr. Beaulieu, who would have it out with Tom Parker and Elvis's father, Vernon, and they in turn would put pressure on Elvis. This went on for a while, Elvis refused to be married. Mr. Beaulieu then threatened to sue Elvis. Elvis still refused to be married. Parker knew the situation was potentially explosive and talked Elvis into getting married. Parker made all the arrangements and Elvis put up quite a front. Priscilla and her relatives were recently on TV saying they were disappointed that they didn't have a chance to have their input in the wedding arrangements. According to Lucy's book, Elvis (was married in May, 1967 and he) went to see Lucy in July 1967. He was very upset that he was forced into the marriage. Lucy did not want any physical intimacy with Elvis, they just talked. Priscilla, in her movie and television appearances, said that in her seventh month of pregnancy, Elvis told her he wanted to have a separation. Lucy said that when Priscilla was seven months pregnant, Elvis contacted her and wanted them to meet. He was very upset and said he wanted to have a separation from Priscilla. Lucy talked him out of it. She said something like, Priscilla needed at that time and leaving at such a time would be bad and could hurt his career. I have read that early in the marriage Elvis stopped having sexual relations with Priscilla. After Lisa Marie was born and Priscilla was back to "normal", Elvis refused to have sexual relations with her. It was in her television movie. The explanation was that Elvis didn't want to have sex with women who had had a child. That was only to reject Priscilla as softly as he could. There could've been other reasons also, based on what I read in the book, "Child Bride". There was no great love between Elvis and Priscilla. According to one of Elvis's closest friends, Larry Geller, Elvis realized he loved Priscilla like a sister. That explains a lot of why he behaved the way he did when he was with Priscilla. Elvis had said several times he wanted to be married and have some children. In order to "have some children" with his wife, he would have had to have sex with a woman who had a child. And it goes on and still no one knows the whole truth. I wonder what everyone would say if a DNA test proved that Desiree is Elvis's child. In association with Amazon.com | |