Elvis Presley’s hidden struggles are resurfacing after 50 years of his death.
For those unaware, colonel Tom Parker, the manager of the late American singer and actor, allegedly kept his drug addiction under wraps despite their stormy relationship.
In the new book by music historian Peter Guralnick, The Colonel and the King, he claimed Presley made a deal with his manager, asking him to keep quiet about his drug use and in return, he would remain tight-lipped regarding Parker’s gambling addiction.
Guralnick stated they both had a difficult relationship and tried to split many times. One time in 1973, Presley even shouted at Parker from the stage at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas; however, their secrets kept them together.
The 81-year-old wrote, "Each of them was aware of the other's addiction, the other's failures, and neither one of them was going to bring up the other's failure for fear that the other would then bring up his own – and they were stuck.”
He added, "The colonel became in a sense not a tragic figure, because he was a life force overall, so full of vitality and creativity.”
"But I came to see those last years with Elvis as a linked tragedy, in which each of them has their own addictions, and I just didn't see that before,” Guralnick penned.
Notably, Presley succumbed to a heart attack at the age of 42 on August 16, 1977. Other factors like years of substance abuse and an unhealthy lifestyle gave him diabetes, obesity and an enlarged heart, which ultimately contributed to his sudden death.