Linda Thompson promotes her book about Elvis Presley
In Thompson's new memoir, A Little Thing Called Life, excerpted exclusively in this week's issue of PEOPLE, the actress and songwriter reveals that Presley's then-9-year-old daughter, Lisa Marie, was the one who told her of the singer's death, just eight months after their breakup. Answering the phone at her Los Angeles apartment, Thompson heard a breathless Lisa Marie on the other end. " 'Linda!' " Thompson recalls Lisa Marie saying. " 'My daddy's dead!' " The star says she was "frozen by a dread of acknowledging the truth." In shock, Thompson blindly rebutted Lisa Marie's revelation, but the young girl insisted, " 'Yes, he is! He smothered in the carpet!' " The 66-year-old says Lisa Marie told her she was the first person she called. People