I risked a glance behind me and saw a bullet hole in the wall above the headboard. Here are some of the larger, ongoing concerns in his life at that time that Ginger addresses in her book. Sometimes too much, Thompson told Express. Consider the downright toxic comments aimed at Ginger by some of the good ol boys who had been close to Elvis for years. Unfortunately, I don't believe a word she says. Celia (September 2018). Long trusted friends Marty Lacker and Joe Esposito then lived in California and were seldom around, and Ginger couldnt figure out what Lamar Fike did for Elvis. She had a role in a film called Living Legend: The King of Rock and Roll (1980), which was about a fictional music superstar named Eli Caulfield whose off-the-charts popularity and prescription medication abuse echoed that of Presley. Either way, it was family ties that helped Ginger cross paths with Elvis; her father knew him, which explained their earlier connection, and Ginger's sister (a pageant queen) was later invited to meet Elvis and invited Ginger along. "Statuesque beauty Ginger was the one who found Elvis dead on the floor of his bathroom in Graceland in August 1977 at the age of 42. The two set a wedding. But the cardiac incident that led to the King's death was no random fluke, but rather a direct result of his heavy use (and serious abuse) of myriad medications, chiefly sedatives, barbiturates, and opiates. Early on in their relationship, Ginger spoke briefly with Priscilla on the phone. Read the sad account of her rushing upstairs, after a frantic call from Ginger Alden, and finding him on the bathroom floor. Dr. Nichopoulos was sitting at his bedside. Source: mega Article continues below advertisement In the years since Elvis's death, family members and friends have. In an eerie coincidence, Leyser and Presley both died on August 16. A couple of stories had already come out in the Enquirer about Ginger and Elvis. The popular image depicts the tawdry and pitiful image of a fallen idol, despairing and alone in his bathroom. Now everyone will know you belong to me, he explained. Alden kept her responses to him brief and straightforward: Elvis was a very nice man I met long ago. But others might argue it's because he wanted his daughter to inherit everything he had. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express. They both describe a man who was looking to the future with excitement not lost in the past. Ginger saw only benevolence in Elvis serial gift giving. She was the last serious love he would let into his heart, Alden wrote in her memoir, Elvis & Ginger: Elvis Presleys Fiancee and Last Love Lastly Tells Her Story. It is reported by People that Elvis' personal physician, Dr. George Nichopoulos (Dr. Nick) had provided his patient with as many as 12,000 pills in the approximate year and a half before Presley died. Elvis Presley and Graceland were fixtures in Ginger Alden's life; after all, she was born and raised in Memphis . In March that year, the pair went on holiday to his favourite place, Hawaii, accompanied by friends. The multiple drugs that Presley often took also wreaked havoc on his mental health. Interview with Ginger Alden. She had just turned twenty, while Elvis was twenty-one years her senior. Despite the considerable age difference between them, they envisioned getting married and sharing their lives forever. In a 2020, Cheat Sheet reported that "Elvis' estate is still so profitable four decades after his death that the is the fifth highest-paid dead celebrity of 2020. Elvis struggled with his health in the following months and had been on a break from constant touring during those last few weeks of August. Who was Ginger Alden, Elvis' fiancee, and were the pair really going to get married before Presley's untimely passing? There have been cozy home instances, akin to after they received a canine. She took advantage of Elvis name.. But at the time, sources reported that the diamond ring was in good condition, except for two chipped diamonds. Some of their stories were then picked up and spread by other writers for their own Elvis biographies.. Then they cast her off and talked poorly about her from that point on. When Ginger's sister Terry Alden won Miss Tennessee in 1976, and Presley invited the pageant queen along with her two sisters to visit his Graceland estate. Ginger posted the following rant on Facebook about 19 hours ago. In 1976, she left Presley as Elvis began dating Mindi Miller from 1975 to 1976 and then Ginger Alden, his last serious girlfriend and the person who found his unresponsive body on the day he died. For many fans when they think of Elvis Presleys love life the first person that comes to mind is Priscilla Presley, who was married to The King from 1967 to 1973. Theres no reason to trust the accounts of any of the guys posing as Elvis friends in those final months. It crushed me to see him like this, Ginger says, but she remained powerless to do anything about Elvis unmanaged use of drugs. Folks felt like they knew him, which made them adore him much more. And then about twelve-thirtyan hour and a half before she called downstairsshe hung up and called this Jim Kirk, who was a freelance writer and a stringer for the Enquirer. I told her! She was only a year-and-a-half out of high school and still had a strong bond with her family. His bizarre behavior is there, as it should be, but its tempered by the affection that Elvis and Ginger obviously felt for each other. General, although, Alden remembers her relationship with Presley fondly. Whatever the case, I could only hope the medical professionals overseeing his care knew what they were doing.. She has made a few appearances on various television shows including Entertainment Tonight back in 2014 but she keeps herself out of the spotlight for the most part. Lord knows I would want to get rid of morning breath and look perfect, since he seemed to expect that from his women. We think she may have called her mother first, and they talked about what to do. In 1991, she married Ronald Leyser, whom she was with until his passing in 2015. Alden played the title role in Lady Grey (1980), about a woman who becomes a music star but suffers through heartache on her way to the top. Billys attribution for his wild accusations against Ginger amounts to a stream of vague phrases, such as it seems, she might have known, we think, we guess, were pretty sure, and she probably figured. And thats the weakness of all the criticism leveled at Ginger Alden by Billy and his fellow down-home boys, Lamar Fike, Marty Lacker, and Joe Esposito. Graceland contained an extensive list of goods that the King required on hand "at all times, every day." Such items on his shopping list (which ran approximately $500 a week) included: One case . However, his estate is worth a huge amount today. Alden later described how she touched Presley's skin and found it cold, though he may have still been alive. I never once saw him eating fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches.. Last April, she penned a long post about the HBO special Elvis the Searcher, and while she didnt mention Priscilla Presley by name, many of her followers seem to have intuited that she was referring to Elvis ex-wife. Fans speculated about Ginger's reasons for selling the ring, but the most common guess was that she simply needed the money and had plenty of other ways to remember her late fiance. Not saying he didn't. She is an actress and a model and had been dating Elvis Presley at the time of his death. His bizarre behavior is there, as it should be, but its tempered by the affection that Elvis and Ginger obviously felt for each other. I went forward with my life [after Presley died]. Elvis actually died a death that is quite common, albeit an embarrassing one. Ginger Alden knew Elvis Presley during what turned out to be the final months of the superstar's life. Still, Ginger took that as a step in the right direction. Eventually, she thought he was showing more awareness of his diet. He was drinking a lot of water and eating less yogurt. ", As a very young woman, Ginger Alden found herself struggling to reconcile her relationship with Elvis and maintaining the ties to her family. He just wanted to see if she would accept the ring and say yes. As noted earlier, Elvis guys took her decision not to move into Graceland as evidence that Ginger didnt care about Elvis. Ginger was often dismissed at the time and in the years afterward by The King's Memphis Mafia entourage. A running toilet in his bathroom so irritated Elvis, that he blasted it to smithereens with what Ginger called a machine gun. That time, Gingers shock turned to anger, she says, and she fled Graceland and ran home to be comforted by her mother. A few times, it seemed clear to me that it had affected his mood and behavior in negative ways.. Now, both Ginger and her mama deny this. His sentences were almost incoherent." See today's front and back pages, download the newspaper, order back issues and use the historic Daily Express newspaper archive. Please review our privacy policy here: https://heavy.com/privacy-policy/, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. While many of the details will never be clear, here's what we do know about the day Elvis Presley died. some new details just recently went public, Elvis Presley: Here Are 15 Things That Recently Came To Light, 15 Surprising Facts About Lisa Marie, Elvis Presley's Daughter, An Inside Look At The Career of Elvis Granddaughter: Riley Keough, Elvis Wasn't Originally Buried At Graceland, But A Strange Crime Changed Everything, The Biggest Scandal Of Tom Selleck's Career Involved Stealing 1.4 Million Gallons Of Water For His Avocado Farm, Simon Cowell Admitted He Went Too Far With Surgeries And Got A Procedure Completely Removed. As before, Elvis seemed anxious about his upcoming performances. Fortunately for Presley's legacy, he left behind 18 No. She was uncertain about just how much to share with Hunter. When the medication kicked in, both of them fell asleep. So am I a child ofmy time. Put yourself there in her shoes for a second. Weeks later a deafening bang awoke Ginger one morning at Graceland. It was later released in paperback in August 2015. No one really knows what would have happened had Elvis lived. The doctor later claimed that the pills were intended to be shared among Presley's entire entourage, but it's likely he knew exactly where they would go. But I knew it would never happen.. In her book, its an ongoing issue, one for which she claims Elvis did his best to accommodate. Do you think if it werent for their paychecks, theyd still be around?, Elvis gave Ginger an endless stream of gifts. In it was a small, green velvet box. Who Is Ginger Alden, Elvis Presley's Fiancee At The Time Of His Death? But when Elvis gave a woman a ring, it didnt mean a damn thing., Marty Lacker (1995):Ginger was one of the worst choices Elvis ever made. Some traveled hundreds of miles to be there, feeling compelled to be at the place where Elvis spent his final moments." By August, Ginger says they were discussing the details of their wedding day. It was a mixture of vitamins, medication, sinus pills, and aspirin, he said. Aside from the National Enquirers claims, Alden has posted about her ex quite a few times on Facebook over the years. It was too late to reverse decades of poor eating habits. Presleys dad, Vernon, allegedly did not want her around anymore. None of them provide any credible evidence to support their negative opinions about the relationship between Elvis and Ginger. But later, the two would reconnect when Ginger was an adult, and their relationship apparently began when she was 20 and he was around 40. Despite now being dead nearly as long as he was alive, the King reportedly still inspires enmity between the two women, both of whom lay claim to his heart at the time of his death. The bidding was expected to start at around $30K and was about 11.5 carats. Elvis and Ginger were e together until his death in August 1977, but Priscilla la has stated he was never truly serious about getting married arried again. forty years after his death, not exhaustively in the garish neon lights of Las Vegas but back in his mid-twentieth-century, distinctly southern world. He was seeing Ginger Alden, who was twenty years his junior, and the difference in their ages was becoming more and more of a problem There were conflictsmany. He was found dead by then-girlfriend Ginger Alden (who does not . Hes dead.. I had another concern as well. The first time Ginger saw Elvis hair-trigger temper was when she refused to immediately call the man she had been dating and end their relationship. She finally summoned up the nerve to confront him about those medications. I hoped to move us toward a healthier diet, but I just didnt know how because he was used to getting what he wanted.. Elvis Presley tragically died in his home, Graceland, on August 16, 1977. 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