'My purity attracted him': Linda Thompson on losing her virginity to marshmallow-lipped Elvis Presley
MALIBU, CALIFORNIA: In her autobiography 'A Little Thing Called Life', Caitlyn Jenner's ex-wife, Linda Thompson, reveals that she was 22 when Elvis Presley, then 37, set his sights on her in 1972. Linda was Elvis' girlfriend before she met and married Caitlyn Jenner, who was known as Bruce at the time. According to Thompson, Elvis was a "beautiful golden canary in a gilded cage."
Thompson had dated the rock'n'roll legend for around four and a half years when she was a beauty pageant winner. Thompson, now 72, had met Presley when she was only 22 and she developed a crush on him. She recalled that Presley was very respectful of her and after two months of being in a relationship, Thompson was ready to go all the way with Presley. Thompson claimed that she and the singer exchanged “I love you”s long before she lost her virginity to him.
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Thompson claimed that even though they couldn't keep their hands off of each other, Presley made it clear that he respected her boundaries and even told her he was "glad" she was a virgin. "I think my purity attracted him," says Thompson. "I was his alone. I did not drink, swear, do drugs. He didn’t pressure me to have sex with him."
"I’m not going to touch you until you’re ready for me to touch you, and I just want you to know that," Thompson recalled Presley telling her during one intimate moment. "I want you to trust me. I want to preserve you for as long as you need." Thompson gushed in her book, "He actually used that word, preserve, like the perfect Southern gentleman he could be."
"Kissing Elvis was like plunging your lips into two soft, sweet marshmallows - his lips were so sexy and soft. He smelled so fresh - of the Neutrogena soap he used," recalled Thompson. She said that they even discussed marriage. "He gave me a pre-engagement ring at our first Christmas. He said, 'You can wear it on whatever finger you want, but when we get engaged it will be on your ring finger.' He wanted a son and we would have called him John."
But as their relationship approached its fourth year, Linda realized she would have to call it quits due to her concerns about Elvis's addiction and extramarital affairs. "I struggled to accept the other women as I was faithful, but I was so addicted to loving him that I lost myself and what I wanted while he was addicted to drugs - they were his true mistress," said Thompson.
Elvis died at the age of 42 at his home on August 16, 1977, just eight months after their separation.