Elvis Presley’s Last Words, ‘I’m Going To The Bathroom To Read’

On August 16, 1977, Elvis uttered those last words, before dying slumped in the bathroom the book. The details will be released September 2nd, in Ginger Alden’s memoir called Ginger and Elvis that details the turbulent last months of Elvis Presley’s life. It will be the first time the former beauty queen has talked about Elvis in many years.

The legendary singer and actor promised Ginger Alden the “wedding of the century” and their relationship started with happy memories according to Alden.

“I know this sounds funny but when Elvis entered the room, I thought trumpets would sound. He looked so handsome.”

Ginger Alden began her relationship with Elvis shortly after he left long-time girlfriend Linda Thompson, who had described the King as having a dark side of “self-destructive behavior.” By that time he had been abusing prescription drugs for a number of years. In the first 8 months Presley had 199 prescriptions for more than 10,000 doses of sedatives, amphetamines and narcotics.

Ginger goes in depth on the dark times. At one point Elvis ran into the Graceland’s garden carrying a machine gun. He thought he saw his daughter Lisa being chased by someone else with a gun, only to find out later it was just a toy.

Presley also shot at the telephone when it annoyed him, and shot at the television when a program displeased him.

Elvis would periodically binge on food. When Alden complained about his eating habits the King responded by throwing a dish at her. But the most startling passage described the night Presley died.

Elvis, not wanting to wake up his fiancee, told her he’d be in the restroom reading. A few hours late Ginger woke up and saw the light on in the bathroom. She called his name and entered the room and saw him dead, slumped on the ground.

His position seemed grotesque, on his knees with his hands beneath his face, it looked as though he had been praying.

“I slapped him a few times and it was like he breathed once when I turned his head,” Alden said in the only interview she gave on the subject.

Although their romantic relationship didn’t begin until the end of the Elvis’s life, Ginger had been a fan for many years and first met him when she was only 5 years old.

To see the details of the memoir about Alden’s life with Elvis Presley click here.

[Image Credit: Getty]