Linda Thompson was born on May 23, 1950, in Memphis, Tennessee to Margie and Sanford Abel Thompson. A talented student with dazzling good looks, she went to Kingsbury High School where she was crowned Homecoming Queen.
After graduating from high school, Thompson enrolled at Memphis State University where she studied for four years, majoring in English and Drama. The stunning Southern Belle couldn't have known that a chance encounter with a star was about to change her life forever.
Deciding to capitalize on her blessings, Thompson started entering beauty pageants to help fund her college education. An immediate hit on the pageant circuit, she went on to win Miss Liberty Bowl, Miss Shelby County, and numerous other titles.
But it wasn’t until she won Miss Tennessee Universe when she was 22 that her status as a beauty queen would lead her to meet the love of her life: Elvis Presley. Meeting the "King of Rock and Roll" was about to change her life forever.
Thompson met Elvis at a movie theatre. “I was Miss Tennessee. I was Miss Tennessee Universe in 1972, and Elvis was Elvis. And I was invited to go to the Memphian Theater, which he rented out after midnight to screen films,” she recalled while on Larry King Live.
“So, I was invited to go to the theater. And Miss Rhode Island, Jeannie LaMay, was my roommate in the Miss USA pageant. She was living in Memphis. And she and I went to the theater and were introduced to him properly,” Thompson continued. While the two beauty queens were about to meet the King, only one would go on to share his kingdom.
"He came into the cinema very grumpy, then shone a light round and rested it on my face. 'Well, hello,' he purred.’ He sat next to me and nuzzled into my neck," she revealed to the Daily Mail. At the time she thought he was still married, so she ignored his advances. However, Elvis reassured her they had broken up six months ago and that he was single.
“I can’t recall the film we saw as we spent the night kissing and cuddling. Kissing Elvis was like plunging your lips into two soft, sweet marshmallows—his lips were so soft. He smelled so fresh — of the Neutrogena soap he used,” she continued. Little did Thompson know that this was just the start of their whirlwind romance.
Elvis divorced his former wife Priscilla six months earlier and it wasn’t long before he and Thompson began a serious relationship. He even invited her to Graceland to meet his family the day after they first met. “I thought that was pretty momentous. I knew it was the start of something magical,” she told Vintage Rock Magazine.
Within just a year of them starting to date, Thompson moved into the Memphis mansion and accompanied Elvis on all of his tours. At first, everything seemed wonderful, but that was about to change.
Being with Elvis gave Thompson a life of glitz and glamor she’d never experienced before. She got on well with Elvis’s entourage, the so-called “Memphis mafia”, and did everything she could to support his career, attending every show.
However, things were sometimes claustrophobic. The two were together 24 hours a day, leading a nocturnal lifestyle and getting up at 9 p.m. While Thompson recognized Elvis’s dependence on prescription drugs early on, the rock and roll star didn’t admit he had a problem. Even though she stuck by him, things were about to get a lot worse.
“Once he fell asleep after taking a sleeping tablet and went head first into a bowl of chicken soup. I pulled him out as he would have choked to death. There were other occasions, but I’ll take them to my grave,” she told the Daily Mail.
Caring for Elvis in his vulnerable state began to take its toll. “I would wake up constantly while we were sleeping to check on him. I was exhausted,” Thompson revealed to Vintage Rock Magazine. But, Elvis’s substance abuse wasn’t the only thing causing friction in the relationship.
Thompson suspected Elvis was still seeing other women, and the media was constantly speculating. It was devastating for her to know that even though she was dedicating her life to caring for him, he was still cheating on her.
“I struggled to accept the other women as I was faithful, but I was so addicted to loving him that I lost myself and what I wanted while he was addicted to drugs — they were his true mistress,” she told the Daily Mail.
Although they adored each other, Elvis and Thompson never got married. They had discussed it and Elvis even gave her a pre-engagement ring the first Christmas they spent together.
However, what Linda Thompson wanted most of all was a baby and she didn’t want to bring a child into the crazy world of non-stop shows, medication, and media attention. Thompson realized she wanted to lead a normal life. But it was easier said than done—she loved Elvis deeply and he relied on her. She wondered if he could live without her.
“I thought that without my care he may very well die, but I knew it wasn’t my role in life to stay and keep him alive. I also knew that I may find him deceased anyway, and I would be devastated if it happened on my watch. It took me nearly a year to wean myself away from him in increments, taking vacations with my family or Jeanne,” she told Vintage Rock Magazine.
The couple parted in San Francisco in 1976 after more than four and a half years together. Elvis encouraged Thompson to fly home to Memphis to rest. She couldn't have known that it would be the last time she would see him alive.
