Da Thompson dated Elvis Presley in the 1970s, but their romance ended just a year before the King’s death, aged just 42.
Now she has opened up about her relationship with Elvis and what really made her leave.
I love music for the fact that it’s so personalised. One person might say that this song is the best song ever made, while another person might say that song isn’t even close to being the best.
Are there people who may not have heard the song at all?
In the millions and millions of songs created throughout history, there is something different, for better or worse. But when it comes to who is the king in this field, there is only one answer: Elvis Presley.
Elvis Presley is the king
The king of rock gave the world something new with his music. He was one of the greatest artists we have ever seen and was as talented as he was charismatic.
Elvis Presley with girlfriend Linda Thompson at the Hilton Hotel in Cincinnati, Ohio (Photo: Tom Wargacki/WireImage)
In addition to being a major musical star – with songs like Jailhouse Rock, In The Ghetto, Hound Dog and Love Me Tender – Elvis Presley starred in a number of films that helped elevate his career. These include King Creole (1958), Viva Las Vegas (1964), Trouble with Girls (1969) and other classic films.
Elvis tragically passed away in August 1977, leaving the world to mourn the musical phenomenon.
One of the people closest to him was his former girlfriend Linda Thompson. She kept in touch with him until the very end. Now she has revealed why she left Elvis – and what happened in the last days of his life.
When Linda Thompson was born on 23 May 1950, Elvis Presley was already winning talent contests at Humes High School in Memphis, Tennessee. It was 22 years before they met for the first time,
but even as a child, she fell in love with the King’s music.
Linda Thompson – childhood
Linda Thompson was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, just like Elvis Presley. When the legendary singer released the song Heartbreak Hotel, which became his first #1 song, Linda wasn’t just in love with him.
She already knew that one day she would meet and marry him.
When I was six years old, sitting at the breakfast table, I told my parents: ‘I’m going to marry Elvis Presley,’ Thompson recalls.
As a teenager, Linda entered several beauty pageants while attending Kingsbury High School. In 1969, she won the title of Miss Shelby County and the following year, Miss Mid-South Fair.’
She didn’t stop there and won many more pageants in the following years. She went on to become Miss Liberty Bowl, Miss Okra, and Memphis State’s Queen of Golf. In addition, while attending Memphis State University as an English major, Linda Thompson became a member of the MSU Homecoming Court.
In 1970, Linda became Miss Memphis State University and placed third in the Miss Tennessee pageant. Two years later, she was named Miss Tennessee and placed third in the Miss USA pageant.
Dating Elvis Presley
While Linda Thompson was busy in beauty pageants, Elvis Presley was achieving worldwide fame and notoriety. In 1970, he released his 12th studio album That’s the Way It Is – at the time he was married to Priscilla Presley.
Two years earlier, they had a daughter, Lisa Marie Presley. But by 1970, their marriage had broken up.
In 1972, Elvis and Priscilla divorced. But it wasn’t long before Elvis found a new man to whom he gave all his love.
At a private show, shortly after splitting from his ex-wife, he met Linda Thompson. Last year at the Elvis Festival in Las Vegas, Linda recounted how Elvis approached her at the show.
He began by saying, ‘Well, hello, darling!’ she said.
‘I thought he was still married, so I had no idea,’ she said, as reported by the Express. ‘I was just happy to meet my idol.’
After the film started, Elvis lowered himself down and sat next to her. She thought he was still married, but soon realised he wasn’t.
The move to Graceland
‘He started pulling the old yawn, put his arm round the seat,’ Linda recalls.
He said: ‘I’ve been living apart since the end of the year. We’re getting a divorce. She met someone else and is moving on.’ I said: ‘Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, but you should have married a southern girl.’ And he never forgot that.’
Linda Thompson and Elvis Presley began dating soon after, and over the next four years Linda experienced a whole wave of emotions before leaving him.
‘I’ve always been a fan of his, but I didn’t think he would transcend time and space and become as iconic, almost a religion, as he is now,’ Linda told Closer publication.
Linda moved into Elvis’ Graceland estate. However, it wasn’t long before she witnessed Elvis’ “self-destructive” downward spiral firsthand.
In 1973, the first year they met, Linda witnessed Elvis Presley write himself into history. After two benefit concerts for the Cancer Foundation, Elvis’ TV special “Aloha from Hawaii” became the first solo concert to be broadcast worldwide.
Linda Thompson’s book Elvis
On 14 January 1973, the concert, held at the Honolulu International Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, was broadcast via satellite to more than 40 countries, from France and Italy to Singapore and South Korea.
The set list of the concert included all of Elvis’ biggest hits. According to Elvis.com, at the time it was the most expensive entertainment show in history – it cost $2.5 million.
Linda Thompson and Elvis’ relationship was something special. She said they were ‘soul mates.’
In her book A Little Thing Called Life (2016), Thompson wrote about how the two had a very special relationship.
‘Our relationship was complete – when the need arose, we became everything to each other. He was older than me by almost sixteen years, so it was natural for me to be the little girl sometimes and him to be Daddy. But more often than not, I was the mum and he was the baby,’ writes Linda Thompson. ‘Sometimes we were lovers, sometimes we were brother and sister. Sometimes we were best friends. At one time or another, we were everything to each other. And Elvis was always, always everything to me.’
In the last couple of years of their relationship, Linda was quick to notice how Elvis’ health deteriorated. The rock star was suffering and taking sleeping medication, sometimes mixed with ‘other things,’ according to Linda.
Elvis Presley’s medication
She would sit and watch him until he fell asleep, and even woke up a couple of times during the night to make sure he was breathing.
‘I have to admit, it was exhausting,’ Linda says. ‘I was a young girl, but it was still exhausting when you don’t sleep. And also just emotionally exhausting because I loved this man more than my own life and I watched him slowly self-destruct and I couldn’t do anything about it…’
In early 1975, Elvis was hospitalised for ‘several days of check-ups’, writes the AP. Linda found him in bed, struggling to catch his breath, and he was taken to a hospital in Memphis.
He actually had liver problems, but it had nothing to do with alcohol. Elvis was having health problems at the time because of the medication he was prescribed.
Linda Thompson – Elvis’s Relationship
The following months were difficult. Elvis bought Linda a house near Graceland, but by October 1975 she just couldn’t do it anymore.
After Elvis was once again hospitalised for treatment, Linda left him to concentrate on her career in Los Angeles.
She struggled to cope with his ‘self-destructive’ downward spiral. They stayed in touch, but why?
‘I was haunted by some feeling, thinking I didn’t know if anyone could take care of him the way I did,’ Linda explains.
‘I felt I knew his habits and needs very well. When you’ve been with someone for so many years and lived so closely with them, I felt I knew their habits and needs very well, and I thought no one else would know that.’
Then, on 16 August 1977, tragedy rocked the world. Elvis Presley passed away at the age of 42.
A few days before, Linda had tried to call Elvis, which was their last call. She called Graceland, where Elvis’ best friend and guitarist Charlie Hodge picked up the phone.
Linda wanted to make sure Elvis was okay and asked Charlie to go upstairs to check on him.
Elvis Presley’s last days
‘Charlie was a bit impatient with me,’ Linda recalls. ‘He said: ‘He’s all right, darling. He’s sleeping.’ I said: ‘Just kidding, please go up and check his breathing.’
Charlie checked Elvis and said he was breathing. It was then that Linda said her last words to Elvis’ best friend while the King was still alive.
I said: ‘OK, just tell him I called and I love him and I was just checking on him,’ she continued. ‘He replied, ‘I’ll tell him. That’ll make him happy.’
On 16 August 1977, Linda was in her Los Angeles flat when she received a phone call. Elvis Presley was found unconscious on the bathroom floor and was rushed to the hospital where he died. He was buried in the Meditation Garden at Graceland.
She was the first person nine-year-old Lisa Marie Presley called the night her famous father died.
Photos of Linda Thompson and Elvis
Whenever photos of Linda Thompson and Elvis Presley come out, it’s surprising how often the same comments are made. Many say that she wasn’t as beautiful as Priscilla and that Elvis should have stayed with his first wife.
Frankly, I find that disrespectful. Linda was an important part of Elvis’ life at a time when he needed love and support, and their relationship was meaningful in and of itself. Yet it’s as if people can’t seem to resist making comparisons, repeating the same old judgements without appreciating her for what she was.
Linda Thompson’s Career
At the time Linda Thompson started dating Elvis, she also had her own acting career. She starred in the horror film Three in the Meadow (1972), after which she appeared several times in television shows. At the same time, she dabbled in music, which earned her a place at the glamorous Hollywood table.
In 1981, she married Bruce Jenner. In 1981, they had their first son, Brody Jenner, and two years later Brandon Jenner was born. The couple divorced in 1986.
Linda later wed Canadian producer and musician David Foster in 1991, but the couple divorced in 2005.
Music by Linda Thompson
Linda Thompson wrote music for many films in the 1990s, including The Bodyguard (1992), for which she was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Song Written Especially for a Motion Picture or Television. She was also nominated for an Academy Award in 1993 for the film The Bodyguard in the category of Best Music, Original Song.
Over the past decade, the 70-year-old Linda has written original music for several television series including The Voice, The X Factor, Dancing with the Stars and American Idol.
On Instagram, Linda still posts photos and videos of Elvis, honouring him as the king he was.
On 16 August, the 43rd anniversary of his death, she shared an emotional post about her former boyfriend.
‘He was the king of cool and also the king of rock and roll. He had a huge heart, unbridled generosity, groundbreaking talent, a loving, affectionate nature and deep sensitivity,’ Linda Thompson wrote.
‘He was original. He was complex in his simplicity, and he was very human.’ Today, 43 years ago today, the world lost an icon, but Elvis still lives on in the hearts of millions of fans around the world. Many of them come to Memphis every year on the occasion of his passing and remember him by candlelight.’
Rare Elvis recording
In recent years, an old, rather unknown recording has gained attention after it was posted on Youtube.
On a rare recording made in 1973, we can hear Elvis Presley and Linda Thompson harmonise on a lovely song called ‘Your Life Has Just Begun’.
Sure, the sound isn’t the best, but you can still hear their beautiful voices, and it also gives us a unique and personal look at the last years of Presley’s life.
So this is a special record in many ways, listen below!
We will never forget Elvis Presley and all the beautiful music he created.
Please share this story with your friends and family to honour the King!
