Elvis Presley’s grisly autopsy – constipated for months and covered in sores

Elvis Presley’s death remains shrouded in mystery to this day – with conspiracy theories popping up every now and then that the King is actually still alive.

But alas, he was officially pronounced dead on August 16, 1977, found in the bathroom of his Graceland mansion before being rushed to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis.

The star was pronounced dead when he got to the hospital and shipped immediately to the morgue, where an autopsy was carried out that very afternoon.

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His official cause of death, given by the coroner three days later, was listed as “hypertensive cardiovascular disease with atherosclerotic heart disease”.

But what really killed the music legend? From eerie coincidences to being constipated for four months, Daily Star takes a closer look.

Toilet issues

Elvis’ body was found on his bathroom floor, face down in front of the toilet, after collapsing from his sitting position. When he was found by paramedics he was already dead, so cold he had turned blue.

The 43-year-old had been constipated for four months, which was a contributing factor in his death.

Dan Warlick, chief investigator for the Tennessee Office of the State Chief Medical Examiner revealed: “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.”

A post-mortem found a compacted stool that was four months old in his bowel.

He had a horrific diet, often splurging on cheeseburgers while locked in his room. He also suffered from vertigo, back pain, insomnia and eye infections – and was taken to hospital in a semi-coma in 1973, suffering from severe respiratory distress.

He also had a swollen face and distended abdomen, along with a bleeding ulcer and hepatitis.

Weight gain

Towards the end of his life, Elvis weighed 350 pounds – more than 25 stone.

The star required a full-time nurse and, according to some reports, refused to take a bath for the entirety of 1975, which caused sores to develop all over his body.

His girlfriend Ginger Alden found Elvis’ body, pyjama bottoms around his ankles and his bottom in the air.

She wrote in her memoir: “His arms lay on the ground, close to his sides, palms facing upward.

“It was clear that, from the moment he landed on the floor, Elvis hadn’t moved. I gently turned his face toward me. A hint of air expelled from his nose.

“The tip of his tongue was clenched between his teeth and his face was blotchy. I gently raised one eyelid. His eye was staring straight ahead and blood red.”

Addiction battle

Toxicology reports identified a whole host of pharmaceutical drugs in his system – including codeine, which was 10 times the prescribed amount.

14 drugs in total were found in the report, including morphine, diazepam, and several barbiturates.

But conspiracy theories surrounding Elvis’ death suggested the facts were “covered up”, fuming that neither a drug overdose nor a heart attack killed him.

His physician, Doctor Nick, wrote prescriptions for the star of at least 8,805 pills and injectables in less than a year. From January 1975 until Elvis’ death in 1977, he had prescribed 19,012 drugs.

Eventually, though, Doctor Nick was absolved of negligence in causing his death in court.

Grisly injury

In 2013, an incident came to light that may have contributed to Elvis’ declining health. Prominent California physician Forest Tennant claims it all stemmed back to a serious head injury the star suffered in 1967.

He suggested that tripping over a television cord and knocking himself out on the edge of the bathtub may have triggered a progressive autoimmune inflammatory disorder.

The injury proved so severe that Elvis’ brain tissue dislodged and seeped into his blood circulation, where antibodies were produced to destroy the intruder.

The response triggered was hypogammaglobulinemia, a disorder of the body’s immune system.

Eerie coincidence

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In a tragic twist in the tale, Elvis’ daughter Lisa Marie Presley – who died in January 2023 – was also battling a number of health conditions in the lead up to her passing.

Lisa Marie was suffering from long-lasting fevers, abdominal pain and vomiting.

She died of a “sequelae of a small bowel obstruction” after undergoing bariatric surgery several years before. Like her father, bowel issues contributed to Lisa Marie’s death when she was found unconscious at her Calabasas home by her ex-husband.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk