Elvis Presley may have been one of the biggest cultural icons of the 20th century, but he was still human and had his fears just like the rest of us. His Memphis Mafia inner circle knew more than anybody what his biggest phobias were. And now Danny Smith, the son of Elvis’ cousin Billy, has shared them including one he originally didn’t know until his father spilt it to him.

Answering if Elvis had phobias, Danny said on his Memphis Mafia Kid YouTube channel: “He did. Everybody probably [knows] about the flying, which he eventually got over.”

In the early days of his singing career, The King and his band made up of Scotty Moore and Bill Black had a private flight organised by The Colonel.

However, they had to make an emergency landing for fuel. Afterwards, the star made sure to avoid planes for a while afterwards due to his mother Gladys worrying.

This even saw him taking a boat to Hawaii. Another of The King’s fears shared by his relative was of a certain reptile.

Danny added: “If [Elvis] were sitting like somewhere [at] the movies or whatever, he didn’t like somebody that he didn’t know or trusted sitting behind him. He just didn’t like that.”

This isn’t too surprising given The King’s incredible fame. Billy once shared from the early days: “One time he was sitting in a car and somebody recognised him. So they walked up and they said, ‘Can I have your autograph?’ and handed him a piece of paper. He started signing it, [then] the guy hit him right in the side of the jaw.”

And on another occasion, a strange man came to Graceland saying that Elvis was looking for him when he wasn’t. These instances would cause nightmares for the star.

Billy, whose job it was to wake Elvis, remembered if he was having a night terror though it was best to leave him and just talk to him in comfort.