A certified whirlwind. Lisa Marie Presley and Nicolas Cage were married for less than six months before calling it quits — but their relationship still draws attention.
Elvis and Priscilla Presley‘s daughter met Cage in 2000. At the time, they were both involved with other people; Lisa Marie was engaged to musician John Oszajca, while the National Treasure actor was married to first wife Patricia Arquette. However, sparks flew between the songwriter and Cage.
“I walk into a party not knowing who I’m going to meet, and there’s this beautiful girl standing in the middle of the living room wearing this short leather skirt and this fluffy jacket, and she looks up at me with these big, beautiful, soulful eyes that look like they have a sad story to tell, and I just went ‘Oh.’ I was thunderstruck,” the California native recalled of Lisa Marie during a 2003 interview with the late Barbara Walters. “We got to talking, we got to know each other, and she’s hilarious and she’s a real firecracker and she tells it like it is.”
The Ghost Rider star and the “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” artist split from their respective partners in 2001 before officially beginning their romance. They exchanged vows in Hawaii in August 2002 but pulled the plug on their marriage after just four months.
Cage was Lisa Marie’s third husband following her unions with Danny Keough and Michael Jackson. (She shared daughter Riley Keough and late son Benjamin Keough with Danny.)
“I’ve been through a lot of stuff,” she told ABC News’ Diane Sawyer in April 2003, reflecting on her short-lived relationship with the Pig actor. “We honestly were joking, thinking we are like the new millennium version of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor at this point. I mean, we are going to knock each other off.”
When asked what attracted her to Cage, Lisa Marie replied: “I like when someone’s shaking it up, when they’re different. I don’t know why. I’ll never know why. But it’s just what I get attracted to.”
The Golden Globe winner, meanwhile, told Walters that falling for the “Jailhouse Rock” crooner’s daughter made “sense.” (Cage previously confessed in an interview that Elvis is one of his “heroes,” along with David Bowie.)
“Oftentimes when you have two people who are very strong and their own personalities and rather intense, sometimes you can have a hard time meshing,” the Gone in 60 Seconds star mused in 2003. “It’s sad and I miss her every day. And sometimes I wish we couldn’t have rushed the marriage and sometimes I regret rushing the divorce, but it just seemed like it wasn’t going to change.”
The pair finalized their divorce in 2004. Two years later, Lisa Marie married Michael Lockwood, with whom she welcomed twin daughters Harper and Finley in 2008. The twosome called it quits in 2016, finalizing their divorce in 2021.
Cage, for his part, was married to Alice Kim from 2004 to 2016 and to Erika Koike for several months in 2019. He exchanged vows with Riko Shibata in 2021.
The Elvis by the Presleys coauthor died in January 2023 at age 54 after Us Weekly confirmed that she was hospitalized for cardiac arrest. Cage paid tribute to his ex-wife in a heartfelt statement.
“This is devastating news,” Cage told The Hollywood Reporter. “Lisa had the greatest laugh of anyone I ever met. She lit up every room, and I am heartbroken. I find some solace believing she is reunited with her son Benjamin.”
Scroll down for a look back at the former couple’s whirlwind romance: