Mary Woodson, the woman who threw a pot of boiling grits on soul singer Al Green and then committed suicide, was laid to rest today (October 24, 1974).
Woodson, who was married with children, was involved in a long-term affair with Al Green that started around 1969.
The soul singer has said in published reports that he did not know Woodson was married with children.
Woodson threw the boiling grits on Green, which she purposely boiled to stick to his skin.
As Green ran to a shower to rinse the grits off of his peeling flesh, Woodson shot herself in one of the 21 rooms in the singer’s mansion, which was just outside of Memphis.
On the night of her death, Al Green claimed that Mary Woodson had proposed marriage to him but he turned her down.
Green was investigated in Woodson’s death because of the fact that Woodson had thrown the boiling grits on Green.
Additionally, the gun that Woodson used to kill herself that evening was also registered to Green.
To make matters worse, there was a bullet hole in the wall from a different revolver that went off earlier in the week, Green told investigators.
Willie Mitchell, the legendary producer who had signed Al Green, was one of the first people to visit him in the hospital.
“He saw me and grabbed my hand. I said ‘man did you kill that girl?’ He said ‘I didn’t tell her.’ I said that ‘if you killed her let me know now so we can get everything together.’ He said ‘nah I didn’t kill her.’ I said ‘okay now I hope you’re telling me the truth. Just be cool man you be out of this patch in awhile.'”
Al Green was released from the hospital a short time later, after receiving several skin grafts to his back,
A suicide note was later found in Woodson’s purse addressed to Green.
“It was catastrophic to endure,” Al Green said of Woodson’s death. “Because I really, really loved her. I was mad at her for cutting out and felt violated for a long time. You came in and we have a good relationship and then you go and do what?”
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