Former girlfriend of Elvis Presley, Linda Thompson, posted a few snapshots over herself with the musician in the last years of his life. She shared a post from an Instagram fan account dedicated to her relationship with the King.
“While Elvis and Linda were together, they traveled all over jet-setting in his plane he named after his beloved daughter Lisa Marie,” the caption read. “As they entered the plane Elvis and Linda would always say hello to the pilots and staff before heading to the back of the plane to relax in the custom built bedroom.”
The photos show Elvis and Thompson preparing to travel. At the time, he actively toured the U.S. in his private plane, the Lisa Marie. Also featured in the images, it was, of course, named after his daughter.
During the last years of his life, Elvis dated Thompson. The two were together from 1972 to 1976. Aside from his previous marriage to Priscilla Presley, Elvis’s relationship with Thompson was his longest. Ultimately, they broke up because Thompson wanted a more normal life. Before their breakup, Elvis cheated on Thompson multiple times. Even so, she only spoke highly of him in her memoir.
“I didn’t want to be one of those people that just jumped on the bandwagon and wrote a book and made a profit at his expense and to capitalize on that relationship, I was very guarded about that,” she once explained. “I wanted to carve out my own position in life. Write my own songs, carve out my own career, have my kids and my family and then write about my life and where he fit into it. Which is, of course, the greatest love imaginable.”
Thompson Recalls Hearing of Elvis’s Death
Thompson also revealed the tragic circumstances in which she discovered the King’s death. She and Elvis remained friends in the years after their breakup. When he passed away, Thompson received a call from Lisa-Marie.
“I said, ‘hello’ and she said, ‘Linda.’ I said, ‘hey’, she said, ‘It’s Lisa.’ I said, ‘I know who this is, you little goobernickel.’ It was a pet name Elvis and I had for her,” Thompson said. “She said, ‘My daddy’s dead, my daddy’s dead.’”
Upon hearing the news, Thompson went into shock. She couldn’t believe her former flame was gone.
“I can’t even tell you what I felt, I was stunned and paralyzed. I said, ‘What? No, he’s not,’” Thompson added. “She said, ‘Yes he is, yes he is. He’s dead.’ The only thing that brought it to reality was when she said, ‘He’s smothered in the carpet.’ And when she said that, I just threw the phone because I thought, ‘Ok, he’s gone. That’s it. Nobody checked on him.’”
