On October 18, 1974, Mary Woodson White, a girlfriend of Green's, assaulted him before committing suicide at his Memphis home. Although she was already married, White reportedly became upset when Green refused to marry her, ironically some four months after he peaked at No. 32 on the Hot 100 with the song "Let's Get Married". At some point during the evening, White doused Green with a pan of boiling grits while he was showering, causing severe burns on Green's back, stomach and arms. She then found his .38 and killed herself. The police found in her purse a note declaring her intentions and her reasons. "The more I trust you," she'd written, "the more you let me down."
While he was showering in his Memphis home in October 1974, his ex-girlfriend Mary Woodson burst in and poured boiling grits over him and proceeded to turn a gun on herself. Green himself was hospitalized with second-degree burns.