![\"Linda](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Linda-Thompson-Elvis-Split-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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Credit: Far Out \/ YouTube Still \/ Ollie Atkins \/ U.S. federal government<\/p>\n
\u2018The King\u2019 liked them young, and as romantic as his songs made him out to be, he definitely moved on quickly. <\/p>\n
Elvis Presley<\/a>\u2019s divorce wasn\u2019t even finalised when he swept pure southern sweetheart Linda Thompson off her feet, and her memories of their relationship gave the world a new picture of Elvis, a man she revealed to love guns and karate.<\/p>\n It was during an in-memoriam interview on Larry King Live in 2002, on the 25th anniversary of Elvis\u2019 death, that songwriter and actress Linda Thompson dove through her memories and shared a rare portrayal of her four-year relationship with the troubled pop star. <\/p>\n The pageant girl had just won Miss Tennessee when she was invited to attend a private movie screening with \u2018The King\u2019 and his entourage in Memphis. At just 22, and \u201ca good Southern Baptist girl\u201d, she revealed an initial standoffish behaviour since she believed the star, 13 years her senior, to still be married<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cYou know, I grew up in Memphis, and I grew up listening to his music and going to his movies,\u201d she told Larry King, so she was pretty incredulous when he hit her with the \u201cHoney, where have you been all my life\u201d line and pulled the ol\u2019 stretch and yawn move while the movie was playing. <\/p>\n Elvis finally cleared the air, saying, \u201c\u2019Honey, you know I\u2019m not married any more\u2019, to which I responded, \u2018No, I didn\u2019t. But, you know, I\u2019m sorry that it didn\u2019t work out for you, but you should have married a Southern girl\u2019.\u201d Her memorable honesty struck a chord with the star, \u201cBecause only if you grow up in the South do you understand that culture completely\u2026We were like kindred souls right away\u201d.<\/p>\n The star was bold and called her at four in the morning, the same night they met, to invite her out the next day, and he immediately introduced himself to her father, and flew her out to Vegas to be with him. She passionately described his gentlemanly ways, his southern gallantry, and how his public and private personas<\/a> often contrasted: \u201cHe was a very dichotomous human being, very paradoxical, she said. <\/p>\n \u201cOn the one hand, you know, he had this raucous image, and he did have a raucous sense of humour, irreverent sense of humour. But he was very pious on another level and very puritanical\u201d.<\/p>\n Further reading: From The Vault<\/p>\n This duality couldn\u2019t have been better captured than by his approach to faith: \u201cHe also was on a spiritual quest to find out how other people of other faiths lived their lives,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd he used to wear an Egyptian ankh, a star of David and a crucifix around his neck. And when people would say are you confused, he would say, \u2018No, not at all. I just don\u2019t want to miss heaven on a technicality\u2019,\u201d recalled Thompson, while confirming the star \u201clived very biblically\u201d, his religious non-monogamy matching his relationship style, which soon became too much for the then-model to bear. <\/p>\n Much like Priscilla Presley, Thompson left her relationship because she wanted a more normal life. In 1976, a few months before Elvis\u2019s death, \u201cafter 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\u2026I just realised that I probably was never gonna be able to help him the way I wanted to help him,\u201d she offered. <\/p>\n Thompson still maintained a touching relationship with Elvis\u2019 daughter, Lisa Marie Presley<\/a>, who was the one to call her about his death. Her rare remarks about Elvis don\u2019t hide the respect she still holds for the legend who accompanied her young years, and who wouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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