Hours after Elvis Presley died on August 16, 1977, the world was in total shock. Millions of fans were crying. But amid all the sadness, something explosive happened.
Two of Elvis’s closest bodyguards, Sonny West and Dave Hebler, held a wild press conference.
They had just written a tell-all book called Elvis: What Happened? The book exposed Elvis’s dark secrets, including his heavy use of prescription drugs. Because the book came out just weeks before Elvis died, angry fans and reporters called the bodyguards “traitors” and “bloodsuckers” who just wanted money.
The bodyguards held the press conference to fight back and tell their side of the story.
First, they explained that they did not write the book to cash in on Elvis’s death. They had actually written it a year earlier while Elvis was still alive. They were angry and hurt because Elvis’s father, Vernon Presley, had suddenly fired them with only three days’ notice after nearly twenty years of loyal service.
1977 Archive: “Elvis Presley’s Bodyguards Raw Press Conference After His Death”
They were thrown out like garbage with almost no money. But they also claimed they wrote the book as a “wake-up call” to scare Elvis into stopping his dangerous drug habits.
During the meeting, the bodyguards shared heartbreaking stories about the King of Rock and Roll. They revealed that Elvis’s drug problems actually started way back when he was in the Army, where a sergeant gave soldiers pills to stay awake in the snow. Later in life, the bodyguards tried to stop people from bringing drugs to Elvis. But Elvis called them into his room and sadly confessed, “I need it man… I need it.” After that, they knew they couldn’t stop him.
They depicted a man deeply trapped by his own fame. Sonny West said that Elvis could be in the middle of a huge crowd and still be the loneliest man he had ever seen.
He was bored and empty when he wasn’t singing on stage, so he used drugs to escape the loneliness.
Still, the bodyguards insisted they loved Elvis. They shared a beautiful story about how Elvis once bought an expensive electric wheelchair for a disabled woman in Memphis, just to be kind.
In the end, the press conference showed that Elvis was a victim of his own massive fame, intense loneliness, and a dark drug problem that finally caught up with him.