The daughter of Mama Cass, a music legend who passed away in the 70s, has responded to rumors regarding her death.
The music industry has long grieved the loss of Mama Cass Elliot, an iconic vocalist and musician who was a star throughout the folk-rock era of the late 1960s with Mamas and Papas.
However, a peculiar rumor has persisted for nearly fifty years, shrouding her tragic death at the age of 32 in 1974.
Owen Elliot-Kugell, the singer's daughter, is on a mission to debunk this myth, one that has haunted her memories of her mother for most of her life.
The rumor is that Mama Cass choked to death on a ham sandwich.
In her forthcoming memoir, My Mama, Cass, Elliot-Kugell shares her journey of reconciling her fragmented recollections with the persistent rumor that has overshadowed her mother's legacy.
Speaking to PEOPLE, she recalled the countless times she was confronted with the bizarre narrative: "In my younger years, when people would talk to me about my mom, it was always about the stupid sandwich."
Despite the absurdity of the tale, Elliot-Kugell admitted to encountering it frequently, even in her childhood. "I would go over to kids' houses after school and eventually one of their parents would ask me 'Did your mom really die choking on a ham sandwich?'" she revealed.
"First of all, the chutzpah to say that to a child is just crazy but it happened a lot. So I felt it was my duty to figure out what that story was all about."
Central to her investigation was a conversation with Sue Cameron, a close friend of her mother's and a former Hollywood Reporter columnist.
Cameron revealed the origins of the sandwich saga, recalling a conversation with Mama Cass's manager, Allan Carr, who allegedly urged her to spread the narrative to deflect attention from other, more scandalous rumors surrounding Elliot's death.
According to Cameron, Carr's instruction was clear: "Just say she died choking on the sandwich."
Elliot-Kugell believes this fabrication was an attempt to safeguard her mother's reputation and shield her from the more unsavory speculations about her passing.
Contrary to the prevalent drug-related rumors that plagued many musicians of Mama Cass' era, Elliot-Kugell insists that her mother was clean at the time of her passing.
"In a weird way, I'm grateful for that crazy story," she confessed, acknowledging the inadvertent role it played in preserving her mother's legacy.
With the impending release of My Mama, Cass, Elliot-Kugell aims to shed light on who her mother really was, reclaiming her narrative from decades of myth and misconception.
My Mama, Cass hits shelves on May 7.