The Short Amount Of Time Lisa Marie Presley And Nicolas Cage Were Actually Married
Engaged five times and married four, the late Lisa Marie Presley might have been what some call a true romantic. Marrying musician Danny Keough in 1988, Elvis and Priscilla Presley's only child was 20 at the time, per People. With Priscilla announcing that she "couldn't be happier for them," the pair bore two children, Riley and Benjamin Keough, during their five-and-a-half-year marriage. Remaining friends after the divorce, Danny and Lisa Marie were cohabitating at the time of her 2023 cardiac arrest and subsequent death. She also shared twin daughters, Harper and Finley, with her fourth and final husband, music producer Michael Lockwood. Marrying in 2006 and splitting five years later, the two were still embroiled in a custody battle when she died.
Her marriages to husbands No. 2 and 3 both lasted significantly shorter lengths of time, however. In one of the most famous celeb marriages of the 20th century, Lisa Marie and Michael Jackson tied the knot in the Dominican Republic in 1994. Confirming the news at the time, the "Storm & Grace" singer told the media that she was "very much in love with Michael," and prepared to "dedicate my life to being his wife." Alas, she and the King of Pop called it quits in 1996.
Even shorter, however, was Lisa Marie's marriage to third husband Nicolas Cage. Not even making it to their one-year anniversary, here's the shocking amount of time their wedded bliss (or lack thereof) lasted.
Lisa Marie Presley and Nicolas Cage's romance was passionate but volatile
Just 108 days after their wedding ceremony, Nicolas Cage filed for divorce from Lisa Marie Presley in November 2002, per documents obtained by The Smoking Gun. Citing irreconcilable differences, Cage gave quite a, well, cagey press statement after the fact, saying at the time, "I did not talk about the marriage and I am not going to talk about the divorce" (via Entertainment Weekly).
The duo later opened up about their marital difficulties. In a 2003 interview, Cage described the singer to Barbara Walters as "hilarious" and "a real firecracker." However, the "Face-Off" star admitted their strong personalities had "a hard time meshing." Soon, the couple fell into an "unfortunate pattern of breaking up and getting back together again." Presley echoed Cage's sentiments to Rolling Stone in 2003, explaining, "We're both so dramatic and dynamic that when it was good, it was unbelievably good, and when it was bad, it was just a f***ing bloody nightmare for everybody."
Once divorced, however, the two developed a steady friendship. Presley told Oprah Winfrey in 2005 that Cage "did redeem himself in the end," stating that they were better off as "very good friends." And there was nothing but love in Cage's public tribute upon Presley's 2023 death. Recalling that she "lit up every room," Cage's statement read in part, per Deadline, that "Lisa had the greatest laugh of anyone I ever met."
Did Nicolas Cage marry Lisa Marie Presley because of her father?
In short — no. Despite his reputation as an Elvis Presley super-fan, Nicolas Cage told Barbara Walters in 2003 that he fell for the woman with "big, beautiful, soulful eyes that look like they have a sad story to tell," not Elvis' daughter. The "Leaving Las Vegas" star also clarified in the interview that he was not, contrary to tabloid rumors, going to buy Graceland. "We were never going to live in Graceland. I wasn't going to build Graceland for her on top of a ranch somewhere," Cage told Walters. Most amusingly, the actor debunked the notion that there was an "answering machine with my voice on it as Elvis."
Although those rumors may have been untrue, Cage does, indeed, love Elvis. (It couldn't have been a coincidence that he and Lisa Marie wed on the 25th anniversary of the King's death, could it?) The actor told the Los Angeles Times in January 2022, "You got Elvis and David Bowie ... they're my heroes," as he began singing Elvis' version of "Always on My Mind." Having played an Elvis-obsessed fan in David Lynch's 1990 dark comedy, "Wild at Heart," Cage seems to enjoy studying the icon. Telling the Times that he finds singing relaxing, he mused, "It's clear to me that Elvis was an opera singer."