Last week we portrayed another chapter in the life of Elvis Presley, whose career pretty much set the standard in the realms of both celebrity idolization and deliberate suicide.

This particular multi-talented performer was a next-level singer and a beloved actor whose efforts to hide the dreadful effects of his unbridled lifestyle failed utterly. He goes down in history as a truly egregious example of self-annihilation, as performed by someone who seemingly had everything to live for.

Despite his ever-worsening health, the star kept up a heavy tour schedule. He was divorced, and had never gotten over the death of his mother who, miserable in her confinement to the Graceland mansion, with unlimited access to alcohol and drugs, had died at the bizarrely young age of 46.

Throughout the mid-1970s Elvis was one of the pharmaceutical industry’s best customers for morphine, codeine, valium, quaaludes, and other meds prescribed by a doctor who regarded himself as being quite conscientious and judicious.

Another element of looming danger was the beloved vocalist’s ever-growing tolerance for addictive substances, legal or otherwise, along with his tendency to mix them indiscriminately. Onstage, he slurred the words and forgot the lyrics. Amid the glamor of the spotlights, the extended microphones waiting for his precious words, the lavish greetings, the never-ending flashbulb assaults, the fans clamoring for attention with their everlasting, and very unmusical noise, he was a mess.

The grim health picture only worsened. Elvis Presley suffered from hypertension, diabetes, degenerative disc disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, glaucoma, chronic fatigue, depression, anxiety, and trust issues. His last public performance was in June of 1977, and seven weeks later — weighing an estimated 350 pounds — he was found on the floor of his Graceland bathroom, pitifully exposed in an undignified position.

On the same day, three doctors collaborated on an autopsy, and one of them spoke to the press although the information was not complete. But however much there was, it was enough to cause the star’s father to order the record sealed for 50 years.

The rumor mill cranked up, and there was plenty of speculation. Because Elvis had previously survived four near-death overdoses, it was widely presumed that a fifth OD finally got him. But this rumor was declared to be false.

In the “Probable Cause of Death” section of the paperwork, there is a reference to hypertensive cardio-vascular Disease, which had given fair warning that Elvis was at high risk for heart attack and stroke. Cardiac arrhythmia was mentioned, and so was atherosclerotic heart disease, familiarly known as hardening of the arteries.

A quotation from the official record reads, “There was no indication of any drug abuse of any kind.” Apparently a lot depends on how, in a particular case, “abuse” is defined.

Over time, as tends to occur in such a situation, information leaks occurred and some starkly pitiful facts emerged. In simple terms, the patient died trying to have a bowel movement. The sex symbol who had inspired thousands of adolescent girls (and grown women) to scream, weep with joy, and faint, expired with an estimated four months’ worth of accumulated waste clogging up his intestines. (It had been even longer since his last bath or shower.) Despite daily laxatives and enemas, he died with a “megacolon,” literally full of excrement.

Dan Warlick, an official from the state Medical Examiner’s office, was present at the autopsy. He revealed to the press,

Presley’s chronic constipation — the result of years of prescription drug abuse and high-fat, high-cholesterol gorging — brought on what’s known as Valsalva’s maneuver. Put simply, the strain of attempting to defecate compressed the singer’s abdominal aorta, shutting down his heart.

For many fans, this qualified as “too much information.” What a sordid farewell for a man who wore sequined costumes and travelled by limousine. Also, as pathology reports were completed, Dr. Eric Muirhead revealed that Presley’s body tissues were saturated with 14 different drugs.

At any rate, apparently the autopsy documentation was sealed that day, not to be opened until 2027. Many people suspected that the family did not want the astonishing multiplicity of drugs to become public knowledge, or for overdose to be suspected as the cause of death.

By frankly and accurately identifying his thrice-daily meals of drugs as “attacks,” Elvis gave away the game. In the latter stage of his life, his main activity was deliberate, ongoing, unapologetic, step-by-step, and ultimately successful self-murder. If he had done that to another person, or if anyone else had done it to him, it would have been a chargeable criminal offense.

…. Which brings up the question of how he got away with it. He had a doctor whose job was to write prescriptions; and staff members paid to prepare the meals that were half food, half pharmaceuticals. They must have all suffered severe neck strain, from looking the other way.

Written by Pat Hartman. First published October 17, 2025.

Sources:

“Rock and Ruin: Elvis Presley’s Battle with Depression and Substance Abuse,” OurMental.Health, December 25, 2024.

“Elvis Presley Autopsy Report,” ElvisDeathRevisited.com, undated.

“Elvis Presley’s horrific autopsy details — constipated for 4 months and ‘impacted stool’,” MSN.com, undated.

“Tragic details found in Elvis Presley’s autopsy report,” NickiSwift.com, August 14, 2024.

Image Copyright: OpenClipart-Vectors and YolGezer/Pixabay.