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A Little Thing Called Life audiobook

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A Little Thing Called Life Audiobook Summary

Award-winning songwriter Linda Thompson breaks her silence, sharing the extraordinary story of her life, career, and epic romances with two of the most celebrated, yet enigmatic, modern American superstars–Elvis Presley and Bruce Jenner.

For the last forty years, award-winning songwriter Linda Thompson has quietly led one of the most remarkable lives in show business. The longtime live-in love of Elvis Presley, Linda first emerged into the limelight during the 1970s when the former beauty pageant queen caught the eye of the King. Their chance late-night encounter at a movie theater was the stuff of legend, and it marked the beginning of a whirlwind that would stretch across decades, leading to a marriage with Bruce Jenner, motherhood, and more drama than she ever could have imagined.

Now for the first time, Linda opens up about it all, telling the full story of her life, loves, and everything in between. From her humble beginnings in Memphis to her nearly five year relationship with Elvis, she offers an intimate window into their life together, describing how their Southern roots fueled and sustained Graceland’s greatest romance. Going inside their wild stories and tender moments, she paints a portrait of life with the King, as raucous as it is refreshing. But despite the joy they shared, life with Elvis also had darkness, and her account also presents an unsparing look at Elvis’s twin demons–drug abuse and infidelity–forces he battled throughout their time together that would eventually end their relationship just eight months before his untimely death.

It was in the difficult aftermath of Elvis’s death that Linda found what she believed was her true home: the arms of Olympic gold medal-winner Bruce Jenner. Detailing her marriage to Bruce, Linda reveals the apparently perfect life that they built with their two young sons–Brandon and Brody–before Bruce changed everything with a secret he’d been carrying his entire life, a secret that Linda herself kept for nearly thirty years, a secret that Bruce’s transition to Caitlyn Jenner has finally laid bare for the world. Providing a candid look inside one of the most challenging moments of her life, Linda uncovers the struggles she went through as a woman and a mother, coming to terms with the reality of Bruce’s identity and resolving to embrace him completely no matter what, even as it meant they could no longer be together,

And yet, despite her marriage unraveling, her search for love was not over, eventually leading her to the legendary music producer and musician David Foster, a relationship that lasted for 19 tumultuous years, resulting in a bond that spurred her songwriting career to new heights but also tested her like never before. Filled with compelling and poignant stories, A Little Thing Called Life lovingly recounts Linda’s incredible journey through the years, bringing unparalleled insight into three legendary figures.

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A Little Thing Called Life Audiobook Narrator

Linda Thompson is the narrator of A Little Thing Called Life audiobook that was written by Linda Thompson

Linda Thompson has been nominated for an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, and won an Emmy Award for writing some of the most recognized songs of a generation. She starred on the long-running hit television series Hee Haw for fifteen years, as well as the reality show Princes of Malibu with her sons, Brandon and Brody Jenner. She lives in Malibu, California.

About the Author(s) of A Little Thing Called Life

Linda Thompson is the author of A Little Thing Called Life

More From the Same

A Little Thing Called Life Full Details

Narrator Linda Thompson
Length 14 hours 59 minutes
Author Linda Thompson
Category
Publisher HarperAudio
Release date August 23, 2016
ISBN 9780062498892

Subjects

The publisher of the A Little Thing Called Life is HarperAudio. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is Biography & Autobiography, Entertainment & Performing Arts

Additional info

The publisher of the A Little Thing Called Life is HarperAudio. The imprint is HarperAudio. It is supplied by HarperAudio. The ISBN-13 is 9780062498892.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

*TUDOR^QUEEN*

September 30, 2019

I've been on a tear reading a backlog of Elvis biographies. This one is a memoir written by Linda Thompson, Elvis's girlfriend following his separation from wife Priscilla. Linda was from Memphis, and in fact was Miss Tennessee Universe at the time she met Elvis in 1972. She was just twenty years old at the time. But this is not just an autobiography about Linda's time with Elvis; it's a memoir split across her three life loves: Elvis Presley, Bruce Jenner, and David Foster. Even though Elvis got engaged to Ginger Alden inside a year of dating (which was cut abruptly short by his death in 1977), I think Linda Thompson was his most serious girlfriend. In fact, Linda considers Elvis the greatest love of her life, and she lost her virginity to him. She left him after four years of dating. The reasons are good ones. While at first insisting Linda accompany him everywhere he went, Elvis eventually began having Linda stay behind on trips while he cheated with other women. Linda spent much of her night hours with Elvis keeping watch over him so that he didn't die, and they spent many hours indoors instead of enjoying the outside world...even when they travelled to places like Hawaii. One time they were together in Elvis's bedroom (his favorite place to hang out) where chicken soup was delivered, and put at the end of his bed on a long towel. Linda left the room for a short while, only to return and find Elvis face down in his soup. In a panic, she feverishly cleaned out his mouth and airway and called for medical services. In fact, she spent more than one hospitalization with him in a second hospital bed while he detoxed from a multitude of medications. In one delightful passage, she shares the exact way to make Elvis's favorite culinary treat, the peanut butter and banana sandwich. She was also responsible for some crucial Graceland re-decoration choices that still exist today, like the peacock stained glass accenting the doorway in the living room that leads into the music room (my favorite touch in the house), the iconic Jungle Room and Pool Room. Her favorite color was red and she also redecorated the downstairs with garish red curtains and extremely high backed red velvet dining room chairs. Thankfully, once Graceland became a tourist attraction, those rooms were reverted to their former tasteful elegance, white walls with blue stately draperies. Despite their breakup, it was very clear that these two loved each other very much. There was a lot of tenderness still there, and Elvis understood why Linda felt she had to leave. Elvis could never be faithful to one woman, no matter how much he loved them.As Elvis and Linda's steady relationship was coming to a close, she found her first employment as one of the Hee Haw Honeys on the show Hee Haw. She later scored a multitude of roles in various Aaron Spelling series (Elvis is responsible for introducing Linda to Mr. Spelling). After the breakup, Linda had a light flirtation with Elvis's keyboard player, who noticed Linda's flair for writing poetry/lyrics. One evening when she was having dinner with country icon Kenny Rogers and his then wife Marianne, she shared a cassette tape of a song to which she had written the lyrics. Kenny was so impressed that he recorded the song on his next album. This sparked a long career as a lyricist, especially in collaboration with her second husband David Foster.Linda met Olympian gold winner Bruce Jenner and they later married and had two boys, Brandon and Brody. While the boys were still young, Bruce confessed to Linda that he was really a woman in a man's body, and he planned on transitioning accordingly. He started taking female hormones and having electrolysis to remove facial and body hair. This was back in the eighties when the topic was much less accepting. Bruce had hoped to stay married to Linda even though he was transitioning, but she did not want that. She kept his secret all these years and did not write this book until after the time Bruce (now known as Caitlyn) announced his transition to the world. She was also offered a lot of money decades ago to write an Elvis memoir, but declined back then. She even kept the real reason for her divorce from her boys until they were old enough to handle the information. One time Bruce was watching the boys at his house when they were still little, and they observed breasts on their father. This was after he had started taking the female hormones. Linda had to come up with a believable explanation to stave off the boys from finding out just then. At first Bruce kept up with spending time with his boys after the separation and divorce, but once he married Kris Kardashian he abandoned his family with Linda for years, instead focusing on Kris's existing children and the two girls he had with Kris- Kendall and Kylie. The last third of the book involves Linda's marriage to David Foster, a Canadian musician, record producer, composer, songwriter and arranger. Their marriage was at its best when they were working together making music. He thought she was an amazing lyricist, and they wrote many songs together. Probably the most famous one they wrote together was for the Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner vehicle, "The Bodyguard"... "I Have Nothing". Linda and David had both been married before and tried to have a blended family with mixed results. David also mentally abused Linda by suddenly disappearing for various lengths of time following arguments without being available for contact. At first she would get really upset and want to file a missing persons report, but after years of the same behavior she became used to it. After years of silence she finally consented to a television interview about Elvis with Larry King. He questioned Linda about the fact that she lost her virginity to Elvis. A short time later Linda and David encountered Larry King at an entertainment gathering. When Linda introduced David to Larry King, David blurted out, "FU@K YOU!!!", his anger simmering regarding that Elvis interview. Linda and David eventually divorced, and her analysis of losing self-esteem and respect for herself in such a relationship was spot on. I think she's had an amazing life with the highest highs and some major bumps in the road, but she's a strong and talented lady grounded by her faith in God. I learned a lot about her that I never knew, and hold her in much higher regard now that I know the details. In her acknowledgements at the end of the book, I was blown away by the sheer number of celebrities that she's friends with such as Barbara Streisand, to name one of a ton. This is a very well-written book...not really a surprise considering she's an award winning lyricist!

Michal

August 29, 2016

If anyone could say anything negative about Linda Thompson from what we learn in her book, it would be that she is too kind, too patient and too trusting. Being an Elvis fan, I've waited years for her to write of her time with him. It was worth the wait. This is a book about Linda Thompson and the men she loved and still loves. She began her first relationship with the most famous man in the world and ended her second marriage to a wonderfully talented, if not complicated music writer and producer. In the middle of all of this was her marriage to a man who was one of the greatest Olympians to ever compete. And he was keeping a secret that would soon end their short marriage, leaving her to raise their sons alone. She protected her children from the truth that their father was a woman trapped in a man's body until they were old and wise enough to handle it. She also protected all 3 of her loves from themselves and the rest of world. David Foster could be verbally brutal, often leaving Linda for weeks on end. Perhaps the greatest story in this book is the one she shared with Elvis. He seemed genuinely happy with her, at least for a time. Too bad he always needed someone new. It seems he could never be true to any one woman for any length of time. Whatever drove him to constantly seek out other women certainly added to his demise. Linda took extremely good care of him, which has been attested by many who were present during this time period. I cannot recommend this book enough. We all know how it ends for all 3 relationships, and certainly for Elvis. But what happens "In Between" is worth the ride."There's black, there's white, there's right, there's wrong, and then there's Elvis Presley", Linda Thompson.

Jeff

September 06, 2016

I was very pleasantly surprised with this book. Not knowing anything about Linda Thompson , I assumed that she was just some bimbo after Elvis's money. I have a low regard about his "Memphis Mafia" and I thought she'd fit right in with them. How wrong I was.This book was very well written. It appears that Ms Thompson wrote it without the assistance of a ghost writer, as I can't find any mention of one, either in the book, or on-line. I mostly read this book because of her time spend and writings of them with Elvis. She certainly took the "high road." While she detailed life with the King, there were no "dirty bits." Other books, including the ex wife's gave us dirt on his bad hygiene habits, what he named his "privates", his almost obsession with watching two women wrestle in white underwear and so forth. None of that in this book. Linda wrote a very classy memoir. The rest of the book was also good, although I wasn't as interested as the Elvis period. Heck, I didn't even know that she was married to Bruce Jenner. I do think that she was able to reflect on the sad, confusing times with Bruce and his trans-sexual issues. Her writings about this were very heartfelt.I was least interested in her time with David the songwriter, although it did encompass, what, nineteen years of marriage. The guy seemed like a real ass.I had no idea that Linda was a very accomplished songwriter , who has had a long and successful career at that profession.All and all this was a very good book. It was interesting and enlightening, and made me feel her pain and struggles.I would recommend this book to others/

C-shaw

October 13, 2016

A book I bought for my Mum's birthday (at her request). Elvis was weird!This was a very interesting and well-written autobiography. Linda Thompson's life with Elvis and her marriage to Bruce Jenner are told in a loving and introspective way, honest but without too much tale-telling. I didn't care much for her personally - she seemed a little too goody-two-shoes and self-promoting to be true - but she was and is very beautiful and is quite a talented writer. I highly recommend the book for anyone interested in these celebrities.

Sherre

August 29, 2016

I loved this book!Very honest and heartfelt. I highly recommend this book...you won't be disappointed! A lot about Elvis and I love how she writes honestly.

Sue

April 25, 2017

I'm a huge fan of Elvis Presley so I knew without a doubt I would love this book. And I did. Absorbing and heartfelt. I was surprised when I saw this book at the department store as I had no idea that Linda Thompson had even penned her life story. I Googled the libraries website and found it available so borrowed it the same day. Everything written about Elvis is just too tempting to not read especially by someone like Linda Thompson as I knew she had been with Elvis for quite a while and I wanted to know her story. And wow, what a story! She gives the reader a most remarkable, open and honest account of her time with Elvis Presley, Bruce Jenner and David Foster. This book left me in awe of Linda Thompson - I only ever knew her as Elvis's girlfriend and had no idea of her extraordinary life that was to follow. A five year marriage to former Olympic Gold Medal decathlete bruce Jenner (now known as Caitlyn Jenner), and (better known for his marriage to Kris Kardashian), with whom she had two sons Brandon and Brody. A 19 year marriage to Canadian composer and record producer David Foster. She's an accomplished songwriter/lyricist, a former actress and beauty pageant winner.This is a classy and beautifully written book by a sweet, kind and selfless person. I greatly respect that throughout this book she never said a bad word against anyone that was in her life. And neither did she reveal Bruce Jenner's issue with gender dysphoria when he told her back in 1985, until recently. She certainly comes across as an upstanding person and made this book a pleasure to read. It's filled with compelling and touching stories and sixteen pages of wonderful photographs.

Buck

September 12, 2016

To many people, Linda Thompson has been known for many years in music circles for her talented career as a lyricist. As a die-hard Whitney Houston fan, "I Have Nothing" one of the pop superstar's most iconic hits was written by Thompson for the meg-hit "The Bodyguard" and produced by David Foster, Thompson's former husband. The pair even have cameo roles in that film as the Academy Awards conductor and attendee, respectively. It is anecdotes such as these creating the vast, intricate tapestry in the engaging new memoir, "A Little Thing Called Life"Linda Thompson's life reads like any small town girl's dream. As Miss Tennessee in 1972 she went on to catch the eye of Elvis Presley, arguably the most famous music legend of all time. They shared a tender, if not complex relationship, exposing Linda to a world of which she seemed ill-prepared but who handled with grace and maturity. Later, almost cryptically, after commenting to Elvis that "I am going to marry that man one day, Linda married Olympic Gold Medalist Bruce Jenner and they seemed the perfect couple having two boys, Brody and Brandon. But the truth about Bruce's inner genre identity crisis is as hard at times to understand and accept for the reader as it was by Linda.Later, Linda's marriage to another superstar David Foster brought more headlines and heartache for the devoted mother ending in divorce which can never be easy whether you are famous or not.What is truly fascinating about Linda Thompson and this book is she shines much of the spotlight on those in her life and less on herself leaving one to want more of HER. I am in a unique position because I am one of the lucky readers in Los Angeles who can say that I have met Linda Thompson, and her sons on different occasions and you could not meet people who are any kinder. To those wondering, Linda looked 38 in person! And that, made reading this touching book so much more enjoyable for me. I recommend it highly to anyone interested in not only the lives of celebrity marriages but how one woman managed somehow to raise two amazing sons without ever falling prey to the TMZ-esque downfalls of Hollywood.

Deena

September 04, 2016

Linda's memoir was fantastic, and I just flew through the 360 pages. I thought it was significant that half of Linda's book was dedicated to her life with Elvis which was only 4 1/2 years.

Darlene

October 04, 2016

I'll be honest - I got this book because I knew Ms Thompson had had relationships with both Elvis Presley and Bruce Jenner. Gotta be a hell of a story there somewhere, am I right? This book surprised me for two reasons. First off, Ms Thompson doesn't trash talk any of her exes, nor does she try to act like they were anything but real, flawed people. You see Elvis, Bruce and her other ex-husband David Foster, as human beings, and they come off very well.The second surprise was about Ms Thompson's songwriting. I knew that's how she made her living these days, but I was surprised at some of the songs I know well that I didn't realize she'd written the lyrics to. I Have Nothing, recorded by Whitney Houston, and Miracle, my favorite song performed by Celine Dion, were both written by Thompson, as well as many others. This was a very interesting, very good book.

Carol

September 10, 2016

In good conscience, I must admit having grown up with Elvis' music, I have and always will be a FAN! So to state that I really enjoyed this book is a plus especially when someone as close to him as Linda reflects on her love for him. Unlike many memoirs, it was well-written and from the heart of Linda Thompson, his long time girl friend and the second wife to Bruce Jenner and David Foster. It gives the reader a glimpse into the real lives of these famous people, their struggles and hardships as she recounts her incredible journey through the years. Her glimpses brings insight into the lives of these three legendary men.My only negative thought about this book is . . . she was too kind, patient and trusting in all of her love affairs.

Stephanie

September 04, 2016

Interesting life of Linda Thompson....her life with Elvis, Bruce Jenner and David Foster...and her best role of all, mother to Brandon and Brody Jenner. She has led an almost magical life but also a life filled with sadness. Over the years, being a songwriter, she has written most of the songs we have heard over the years. I recommend this book to those who are curious about her and her life.

Vickie Woelfel

October 10, 2016

WowI couldn't put it down. She truly has a story that keeps you reading day after day.Don't miss out.

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