Tom Jones’ representative has cleared up rumours of a romance with Priscilla Presley, insisting the crooner and old pal Elvis Presley’s ex are “no more” than close friends.
Tom Jones headlines early on Thursday amid speculation his long friendship with Presley had blossomed into a new romance, 10 months after losing Melinda, his wife of 59 years.
The gossip was fuelled by numerous sightings of the pair, most recently when they dined at Hollywood restaurant Craig’s last month (Jan17), as well as Tom’s ambiguous response when quizzed about the possible romance.
He told The Sun: “We have been friends for a long time. She’s a lovely lady. We do enjoy our nights out together.”
“Priscilla Presley and Tom have known each other for many, many years,” Tom’s spokesperson added.
Now the rep has addressed the tabloid claims once more, making it clear the singer’s relationship with Priscilla, 71, is purely platonic.
“They are part of a wider social group that occasionally meet up for an evening out,” the publicist tells People.com. “There is no more to the story than that.”
The Delilah hitmaker, 76, was left heartbroken by his wife’s death last April (16) and in October (16), he admitted finding love again was the last thing on his mind as he continued to struggle with his grief.
“I haven’t even thought about that – I really haven’t,” he told the Sunday People about the possibility of moving on in the future.
Meanwhile, Priscilla has had a number of serious relationships since divorcing Elvis in 1973 – she dated actor and model Mike Edwards for six years and romanced Marco Garibaldi for over two decades before splitting from the Italian screenwriter and director in 2006.
She was also romantically linked to American Idol producer and reality TV star Nigel Lythgoe.
Like Jones, she has found it difficult to find true love, explaining, “L.A. is a very difficult town to find someone, because people are too fickle and they have other agendas.”
