Apart from her time with Denny Doherty, Elliot was married twice. The first marriage, to bandmate Jim Hendricks, began in
1963. This was reportedly a purely platonic arrangement, however, to assist him in avoiding being drafted into the army during the
Vietnam War. The marriage reportedly was never consummated and was annulled in 1968. In
1971, Elliot married journalist Donald von Wiedenman That marriage ended in divorce after a few months.
Elliot gave birth to a daughter, Owen Vanessa Elliot, on
April 26, 1967. She never publicly identified the father, but many years later, Michelle Phillips helped Owen locate her biological father. Owen grew up to become a singer as well and toured with former Beach Boy
Al Jardine.
At the height of her solo career in 1974, Elliot performed two sold-out concerts at the
London Palladium. She telephoned Michelle Phillips after the final concert, utterly elated that she had received standing ovations each night. She then retired for the evening, and died in her sleep of a
heart attack.
An
urban legend arose that Elliot died choking on a ham sandwich. Speaking to the press shortly after her body was discovered, the police noted that a partly eaten sandwich had been found in her room and speculated that she may have choked while eating it. When the coroner's autopsy was performed, no food was found in her trachea and the cause of death was determined to have been heart failure and that she had died in her sleep. But by then, the specious Fatal Ham Sandwich story was already making the rounds and the real cause of death was rarely discussed.
The New York Times did report on August 6, 1974, that "Dr. Keith Simpson, a British pathologist, and Gavin Thurston, a London coroner, issued a report yesterday that ruled out the theory that "Mama" Cass Elliot choked to death on a ham sandwich." In an odd coincidence, Elliot died in the same flat, No.12 at 9 Curzon Place, that drummer
Keith Moon died in, a little over four years later.
At Elliot's death, her sister,
Leah Kunkel, received custody of Cass' daughter Owen, then just seven years old. Kunkel is also a singer and charted in
1984 as a member of the
Coyote Sisters on the single "Straight From The Heart (Into Your Life)." Kunkel was interviewed by
VH1 in
1997 and discussed her famous sister for the "Mamas & Papas" episode of the network's documentary series
Behind The Music.
