Cage and Presley were together for two years before they tied the knot on the 25th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death.
Both Nicolas Cage and Lisa Marie Presley have experienced love, heartbreaks, divorces, and marriages, with one being their own which lasted just a couple of months. The early 2000s was this duo's time when they found a place on the tabloids all the time with their tumultuous relationship.
The pair had been together for two years before they tied the knot but their relationship lasted only for 107 days. After Cage and Presley went separate ways following the divorce, the Leaving Las Vegas star realized that divorcing the singer was one of his regrets.
Cage was still married to Patricia Arquette when news of him and Presley dating surfaced. Even though many believed that the actor fell for the crooner because of his love for her father, Elvis Presley, Cage insisted that his connection with Presley had nothing to do with Elvis.
During an interview with Barbara Walter, the actor divulged the first time he saw Presley at a party. "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," he explained.
"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. 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." His statement felt like he saw Lisa for who she was and not the King of Rock's daughter.
The two started dating but it was an on-and-off contentious relationship. Presley once told ABC News that during one of their dramatic arguments on a boat trip, her $65,000 engagement ring mysteriously ended up in the ocean. Divers had to be called to recover it but in vain. Cage later bought her another ring. Interestingly, Presley said that neither Cage nor she threw the ring.
Keeping all their differences aside, the couple walked down the aisle on August 16, 2002, the 25th anniversary of Elvis’ death but the arguments never stopped. Cage even threatened to file for divorce after one of their fights. Later he did pull the plug on their relationship. Presley told ABC News, "The most upsetting thing was when he called to say he was sorry, wish he hadn’t done it, things like that."
"You can’t have a temper tantrum and then call me four days later and expect, you know, everything to be fine again … so, it was like that … We were both like two 12-year-olds in a sandbox, basically."
Cage didn't give any comments at the time of the divorce but later told Walter, “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.”
Their relationship did have a terrible end but their bond was still intact. Cage once said, "She was born with the pressure of an extremely famous name from day one; I was a young actor in Hollywood with the name Coppola trying to make it with those pressures. There was a logic to it, there was a sense to it." They bonded over their similar "artistic" family background and the expectations that come along with it. All of this created a deep understanding between them.
"That was not a fun time for either of us," Presley told Oprah Winfrey while talking about their divorce. "He did redeem himself in the end and we did become very good friends after that. We're better like that." Decades later, Cage reflected on his relationship with Presley and told The Guardian, "That particular relationship was really based on humor. We had a lot of laughs together. So that's what that was. Much was made about it because of her father and whatnot, but we had a simple relationship in my opinion."
After Presley, the National Treasure actor married Alice Kim with whom he shares his son, Kal-El (15). However, after 12 years, they split in 2016. He then married Erika Koike in 2019 but annulled it within four days. He was last romantically linked to Riko Shibata, according to In Style.
Presley also moved on with her life and married guitarist Micahel Lockwood in 2006, with whom she shares twin daughters, Finley and Harper. They too went separate ways after 10 years together.
References:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jUdLAF2BeM
https://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=131985&page=1
https://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/lisa-marie-presley/all
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jul/20/nicolas-cage-frozen-ground
https://www.instyle.com/celebrity/tbt-nicolas-cage-lisa-marie-presley-relationship
Source: Getty Images | Photos by (L) Vittorio Zunino Celotto, (R) Kevin Winter