Daughter of Mama Cass describes the rumours surrounding her mother’s death as “painful”
Owen Elliot-Kugell, the daughter of the late The Mamas and The Papas singer Mama Cass, has described the rumours her mother died from choking on a ham sandwich as “painful”.
Following a successful residency at the London Palladium in 1974, Cass Elliot passed away from a heart attack in a Mayfair apartment she was renting from Harry Nilsson during her stay in the English capital. Additionally, no drugs were found in her system. Elliot had been struggling with her health for some time, and before arriving in London, she collapsed in the studio before a scheduled appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Elliot-Kugell, who is set to release the memoir My Mama, Cass in 2024, reflected on her mother’s life and death. Looking back on the moment when she discovered the heartbreaking news courtesy of her grandmother, Elliot-Kugell remembered: “I have a very, very clear memory of her telling me that my mom died. I remember thinking, ‘Oh, well, they’re not right. They’re wrong. She’s just travelling. She’ll come back. She always does.’”
Grieving for her mother, whom she lost at age seven, has been a difficult process for Elliot-Kugell, especially because of the false rumours surrounding Elliot’s cause of death. The tale began because a ham sandwich was found on her bed stand, but despite it being untouched, the story spread through the media before it was confirmed she’d suffered a heart attack.
“I can’t believe we’re still talking about the sandwich after all these years,” Elliot-Kugell said. “I started running my mom’s estate when I was 18. One of the first things I remember thinking is, ‘We’ve got to stop that ham sandwich rumour thing,’ because it was so painful.”
She added: “It wasn’t enough that we had lost her, to then be [made into] a joke. I’d say probably 50 per cent of the people don’t believe it now. The other 50 per cent probably still do.”
On a more positive note, Elliot-Kugell said of the process of writing My Mama, Cass: “There is such a sense of completion and real satisfaction as a result of all of this. It’s kind of weird to say, but I feel like, in some ways, I know her better now.”
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