Linda Thompson, who lived with Elvis Presley and was married to Bruce Jenner, has kept the details of her high-profile relationships private over the years.
But Thompson has learned that if you're in the public eye and you keep quiet, others will write their version of what happened. Case in point: the now fabled story about Elvis shooting his television.
Thompson said that she has heard others say "I was there when he shot the TV set out and Robert Goulet was singing," but she was alone with Presley in his bedroom when it happened.
She wrote about Elvis, Jenner and her ex-husband, music producer David Foster, in her new book, "A Little Thing Called Life: On Loving Elvis Presley, Bruce Jenner, and Songs in Between."
"For so long I just let people surmise what they would about my life and my choices," she said.
Asked if it was difficult to revisit past relationships when writing the book, she said, "I call myself out on my mistakes, but in telling the truth, sometimes it stings a little and I wanted to palliate that with kindness. I had an admonition to myself, 'Is it true? Is it necessary? And is it kind?' So I let that be my dictate in writing the book."
Of her love for Presley, Thompson said there's "still a spot in my heart that's raw … and still stings from that loss. When I was with Elvis I used to remind myself there's Elvis on the marquee and then there's the living, breathing Elvis. There's a great lesson in that as well in the way we celebrate people and we put them on a pedestal. It's an impossible way to sustain your life."
Associated Press
