Elvis Presley’s Ex Linda Thompson Gave Insight Into Her Relationship With Him & His Tragic Downward Spiral

Apr 27, 2022 by apost team

Elvis Presley was loved and known as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. He was a pivotal figure in the music industry and to this day is still recognized as one of the greatest performers of all time. There’s no doubt that Elvis is a true icon and that his memory will carry on forever.

Although Elvis is no longer with us, his musical legacy has continued to live on. With hits such as “Jailhouse Rock,” “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” it’s easy to see how the legendary star has continued to inspire other musicians and singers to this day. On top of that, his stage presence was other-worldly, and Elvis was famous for his energetic movements and provocative performance style. This, blended with his unique vocal tone, made Elvis an all-around rock and roll star.

On top of his career, Elvis was also survived by his beautiful family. Many people in the Presley family went on to make a name for themselves while still honoring the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. This included his late daughter Lisa Marie Presley and his granddaughter Riley Keough. Tragically, Lisa, passed away at the age of 54 on Jan. 12, 2023. According to TMZ, Lisa was pronounced dead after she was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital, where she was taken after suffering cardiac arrest that morning. 

While Presley's impact on the world of music was immense, his life was tragically cut short at the age of 42. At the end of his life, Presley had struggled with substance abuse. The dependence on drugs was so integral in his life that according to Town & Country, "multiple doctors involved reportedly argued that the musician's cause of death should have been attributed to a toxic combination of pharmaceuticals." 

His ex-girlfriend revealed some of Presley's last tragic confessions to her before his passing in 1977. 

Even after they broke up, Elvis Presley and his former girlfriend Linda Thompson remained close friends, with the late singer confiding in her some of his darkest thoughts, right up until his untimely death in 1977. In the years after Presley passed away, Thompson admitted that while their relationship was full of love, the singer's downward spiral towards the end had become "exhausting" for her. In a tell-all interview in 2020 with Dean Z, the former beauty Queen got candid about her relationship with Presley, revealing a devastating confession he once made to her. 

Linda Thompson and Elvis Presley's relationship started shortly after the singer separated from his first wife, Priscilla Presley. The pair had met at a private film screening and instantly hit it off. She was just 22 years old at the time; he was 37. Their relationship would last four years before Thompson would eventually leave Presley, as she struggled to put up with his downward spiral and yearned to live a "normal life." 

 "The year we shared sort of equates to 10 or 12 years in a normal life," Thompson told Dean Z, as quoted by Express. 

"In a normal relationship, you go to work, you come back, you meet for a few hours, you have dinner, you go to sleep. The next day you're both off doing your thing," she elaborated. "With Elvis it was so intense. It was so 24/7." Thompson, a former beauty pageant winner, actress, and songwriter, shared a heartbreaking confession Presley made to her during their relationship. 

"I asked him one time, when we were sitting and having philosophical talk, 'What do you think is your worst flaw?'" Thompson recalled.

"And he thought for a minute and he said, 'Well, I'm probably only gonna say this once, but I think I'm a little bit self-destructive.'"

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Thompson explained that what made that revelation so heartbreaking was that Presley admitting that to her meant he knew he was already on a downward spiral. "I don't think he could stop it," she said. 

Presley was already dependent on amphetamines and barbiturates to get him through his rigorous schedule as a rock and roll star in his early days of fame. The amphetamines helped him to stay awake, while the barbituates helped him relax. According to LiveAbout, Presley became dependent on different types of prescription drugs as the years went by, and his manager at the time, Colonel Tom Parker, had a large hand in pushing these drugs as well.

But in 1976, Presley reportedly had a doctor who would prescribe him any pills that he wanted as reported by People in a story from 1980. The doctor, Dr. Nichopoulos, prescribed him over 12,000 pills over the last 20 months of his life according to the story. 

The retired actress revealed she had witnessed the late singer first start abusing substances. "Once I realized that Elvis took sleeping medication and sometimes some other things that maybe interacted with that," Thompson said. She recalled that the stress of feeling responsible for somebody so fragile started to take a toll on her as well. 

"It was like having a newborn baby. I wouldn't sleep. I wanted to know he was okay," she admitted.

"I would sit and watch him until he fell asleep and then I would get up all through the night," she added. According to Thompson, she would regularly check up on Presley during the night to make sure he was breathing and okay, "because sometimes he wasn't."

She admitted that she began to become exhausted, both physically — because of the lack of sleep — and emotionally. 

"I was a young girl but it was still exhausting when you're not sleeping," Thompson shared. "And also just emotionally exhausting because this is a person that I loved more than my own life and watching him slowly self-destruct and not being able to do anything about it…"

As Presley continued to deteriorate, Thompson said she was unsure how she could help him, except be there for him and "keep him healthy." She recalled one particular morning when the late singer struggled to breathe and prompted her to call an ambulance. "There were several times like that where it was really frightening," she admitted. 

His self-destructive behavior led to the relationship's eventual demise, as Thompson eventually realized she "wanted more" out of her life and yearned to be a mother. Roughly one year following their split, Elvis Presley died of a heart attack aged 42. His only child, Lisa Marie Presley, was just nine years old at the time. 

According to Express, Thompson wrote extensively in her memoir, "A Little Thing Called Life," about her relationship with Presley and their eventual breakup, admitting that she would love him "till the day [she] die[s]." Following his death, Presley's daughter called Thompson to break the news to her, as well as to seek comfort. 

Now more than four decades after he passed away, Thompson says that she looks back with love and fondness despite all the hurt during their relationship. "There's always a place in my heart for him," she said. 

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