Elvis Presley’s gruesome death – riddled with constipation and on 9,000 pills

Elvis Presley was a true music legend – known by his millions of fans simply as The King.

But, 43 years ago today and aged just 42, this rock and roll icon was found dead at his palatial home.

For more than four decades the harrowing details of his slow decline into ill health and eventual death have both horrified and fascinated his fans.

The former heartthrob, who had found fame when he was still a teenager, had collapsed in the toilet and died.

Blue-eyed and snake-hipped, screaming fans followed the boy from Memphis, Tennessee, every where he went when he burst onto the scene in the 1950s.

His poster adorned the walls of millions of his fans bedrooms and every record his produced was a sure fire hit.

And, with his film star good looks, it wasn’t long before the King of Rock and Roll had also conquered the big screen, starring in a raft of blockbuster films.

Still a relatively young man when he passed away, Elvis could not have been more different from the boy who found fame singing the blues.

Elvis’ health problems had started long before that August day in 1977 and it was clear to anyone who had seen him on stage in his later years that he was struggling.

As early as 1973, the year he divorced his first wife Priscilla, his health was already failing.

Elvis spent three days in a coma in a hotel room after overdosing on barbiturates – but this was just the start of his problems.

By the end of the year, Elvis had to be rushed to hospital in a semi-comatose state while he was suffering from the impact of a pain killer addiction.

His intense touring schedule was blamed for Elvis’ increasing dependance on the drugs and several appearances were marred by his failing health.

Three years before his death, Tony Brown, a keyboardist who played with The King, recalls his falling out of a limosine when he arrived for a show at the University of Maryland.

Guitarist John Wilkinson added: “It was obvious there was something terribly wrong with his body.

“It was so bad the words to the songs were barely intelligible. I remember crying, he could barely get through the introductions.”

His band were by now so worried about him that they were urging him to cancel the tour and take a year out to recover.

But Elvis was playing to sell-out crowds every night and refused to let his fans down – the tour continued.

By 1975, even recording in the studio was a struggle for Elvis and in a desperate attempt to keep him working his record company, RCA, set up a studio at his home.

Elvis was determined to keep working and recorded the equivalent of six albums during this time – although few made it into the charts.

A new girlfriend was on the scene by 1976, Ginger Alden, and Elvis asked her to marry him just two months afer they met.

But gone was the slim boy who had captured the hearts of millions of women.

Elvis was now grossly overweight at 25 stone and by the summer of 1977 his health had virtually collapsed.

Bedbound and forced to rely on nursing care almost all the time, internally things were getting much worse for The King.

His heart had swelled to almost twice its normal size and his post-mortem revealed he was in advanced stages of cardiovasuclar disease,

Despite never having smoked, but from years of playing in smoke-filled venues, his lungs were riddled with emphysema, which will have made it almost impossible for him to breathe.

His bowel contained the most gruesome discovery of all – it was almost twice the length it should have been and was filled with stool at least four months old.

The first post-mortem recorded Elvis’ cause of death as cardiac arrest and the medical examiner, Dr Jerry Francisco, insisted “drugs had played no part in Presley’s death”.

But questions about what had killed The King remained and the autopsy was eventually re-opened in 1994.

In the seven months leading up to his death, Elvis was prescribed almost 9,000 pills, vials and injections.

His supply of drugs included uppers, downers and painkillers so strong they were usually given to patients in the end stages of cancer.

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