Former beauty pageant and American songwriter, Linda Thompson revealed some details about her and Elvis Presley in her memoir. Linda’s memoir is titled A Little Thing Called Life: On Loving Elvis Presley, Bruce Jenner, and Songs in Between. The songwriter had a brief affair with the legendary rock and roll singer after winning the Miss Tennessee beauty pageant in the early 1970s.
Elvis Presley & Linda Thompson’s Relationship
Presley met Thompson after the divorce from his first wife, Priscilla Presley, in the early 1970s. Thompson recalls that Presley invited her to a movie screening in Memphis after she’d won the Miss Tennesee beauty pageant. The two exchanged numbers that night and met two weeks later which was the beginning of their relationship. The two started living together within months of dating at Presley’s Graceland Mansion in Memphis, Tennesee. While talking about Elvis Presley’s infidelity, Thompson wrote, “That’s just who he was”.
“There’s right, there’s wrong, there’s black, there’s white, and then there’s Elvis Presley.”
“He believed men and women differed when it came to the affairs of the heart.”
She also recalled the rock and roll singer saying,
“A man can have an affair, and it means nothing. It doesn’t mean I’m falling in love with her. But women aren’t built like that.”
However, Thompson expressed how his actions and affairs would affect her deeply. She wrote-
“None of his words could make up for the fact that I was deeply hurt by his need to be with other women.”
Elvis Presley And His Love Affairs
In a CNN interview with Larry King, Linda spoke at length about her and Elvis Presley’s relationship publicly.
KING: Do you think he saw other girls?
THOMPSON: I know he saw other girls. Not the first year. The first year we were together, I think he broke his world record for having been faithful.
KING: How do you know he did after that?
THOMPSON: I know that he didn’t because we were together the first year 365 days for that first year, 24 hours a day.
And after that, you know, word — he couldn’t do much without it being public knowledge. And certainly I was no dummy.
However, Linda’s love for Elvis always let him the off the hook. On being asked if she forgave him for having affairs with other women, she “always forgave him”.
KING: Did he defend it or…
THOMPSON: No. He apologized for it when he was caught. Most of the time he denied it. And…
KING: But if you had him dead to rights, he apologized?
THOMPSON: Then he apologized profusely and said, you’re the only person I love and nobody ever compares to you. And every time I have an indiscretion, it just makes me realize how much more you mean to me.
KING: And you forgave him?
THOMPSON: And I would always forgive him.
Linda Thompson and Elvis Presley were together for four years. The couple split in 1976, a year before the legendary singer’s death. Elvis and Linda’s relationship was as prominent as his and Priscilla’s marriage during the 1970s. The couple were always under the limelight due to the Rock Hall of Fame singer’s popularity. It was Elvis’ infidelity and drug abuse that led to the couple eventually parting ways.
“after four-and-a-half years of the yo-yo back and forth of other women, up all night, sleeping all day, the drug abuse, you know, it was…”
“I just realized that I probably was never gonna be able to help him the way I wanted to help him. There was no Betty Ford Center then.”
Elvis Presley was found dead at his Graceland Mansion on August 16, 1977.
