Elvis Presley met model and former beauty queen Linda Thompson while he was separated from Priscilla in 1972. The two started dating soon after and were together for four years. Thompson called it quits in 1976, citing his unhealthy relationship with prescription drugs as part of the reason why.
“Once I realized that Elvis took sleep medication and sometimes some other things that maybe interacted with that, I was like having a newborn baby. I would sit and watch him until he fell asleep. Then I would get up all through the night and had a pattern of wakefulness to check on his breathing and make sure he was okay, because sometimes he wasn’t,” she said at the Las Vegas Elvis Festival. “It was exhausting, I have to admit. And, also, just emotionally exhausting because this is a person that I loved more than my own life.”
