Nicolas Cage is paying tribute to his ex-wife, Lisa Marie Presley, calling her death Thursday “devastating news.” The Oscar-winning actor released a statement to The Hollywood Reporter soon after news that Elvis Presley’s daughter had died at 54 years old after going into cardiac arrest, saying that Lisa Marie “lit up every room.”
“This is devastating news,” Cage said. “Lisa had the greatest laugh of anyone I ever met. She lit up every room, and I am heartbroken. ” Cage, who was briefly married to Lisa Marie in 2002, then referenced the singer-songwriter’s late son, Benjamin Keough, who died by suicide at age 27 in 2020. “I find some solace believing she is reunited with her son Benjamin,” he added in the statement. (Lisa Marie is also mother to daughter Riley Keough, 33, and 14-year-old twins Harper and Finley.)
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The Leaving Las Vegas actor first met Lisa Marie in 2000, and the two would go public with their romance in May 2001, a month after Lisa Marie’s split from former fiancé John Oszajca. The couple would go on to marry in 2002 on the 25th anniversary of the death of Lisa Marie’s father but split less than four months later. Their divorce was finalized in 2004.
“I’m sad about this, but we shouldn’t have been married in the first place,” Lisa Marie said in a statement issued by her publicist at the time, as per PEOPLE. Cage said in his own statement, “I did not comment on the marriage, I am not going to comment on the divorce.”
Thursday morning, Lisa Marie was rushed to the hospital after going into suspected cardiac arrest, and she died later that evening. Lisa Marie’s mother, Priscilla Presley, said in a statement after the death of her daughter, “It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us. She was the most passionate strong and loving woman I have ever known. We ask for privacy as we try to deal with this profound loss. Thank you for the love and prayers. At this time there will be no further comment.”