Nicolas Cage and Ex-Wife Patricia Arquette Married Near ‘a Pod of Sea Otters’ Years After He Went on ‘a Quest’ For Her
There are a seemingly endless number of bizarre stories involving Nicolas Cage that would be unbelievable if they happened to anyone else. It’s only right that his love life is similarly one of a kind. For instance, his courtship and eventual marriage to Patricia Arquette is something out of an ’80s romantic comedy. Unfortunately, getting eloped in front of a bunch of marine mammals did not strengthen their bond enough to stick together for the long haul. But it sure makes for a good story.
How Nicolas Cage wooed ex-wife Patricia Arquette
According to an article in InStyle, this love story begins at Canter’s Deli in Los Angeles in 1987. Cage and fellow actor Crispin Glover both fell for Arquette. What ensued was deemed “a quest.”
Arquette gave him a set of difficult or impossible conditions to win her over including an autograph from reclusive author J.D. Salinger, a black orchid (fun fact: these don’t actually exist), a Lisu tribe wedding costume, and the Bob’s Big Boy statue. One by one, Cage completed each task.
“It scared me,” Arquette later explained on Watch What Happens Live. And yet, she agreed to go out with Cage. They quickly broke up after Cage had a fit at an airport in Mexico due to an issue with their tickets while on their way to Cuba. The trip stopped there, and they went on to other relationships. Cage and Arquette had children with their respective partners Christina Fulton and Paul Rossi.
In a classic third-act twist, Cage and Arquette met at Canter’s again in March 1995. They rekindled their connection and married each other two weeks later in Carmel, California.
Arquette was the one who proposed, doing so at Cage’s house while “dressed head to toe in black vinyl, carrying a big purple wedding cake” according to Paper. Their wedding ceremony was 10 minutes long, and the only witnesses were reportedly a female preacher, Carmel’s former police chief, and a pod of sea otters. They drove off in a blue Ferrari and lived happily ever after.
They’ve said little about each other publicly after divorcing
Or not.
The couple separated in January 1996 and officially divorced in 2000. Neither party has commented much about what led to their breakup, but Arquette told The Telegraph in 2015 that it was complicated in ways that the public didn’t need to know about.
“There were times when we weren’t living together because we were fighting, but it wasn’t as reported and I didn’t feel that I needed to explain that,” she said. Arquette continued, “There were times when my mom was dying [from breast cancer in 1997] and I was living with her, taking care of her. There were times when he was away working on a movie. It was our thing. I still don’t feel like I owe it to anyone. It’s funny when people are so wrong, and they put you in this position and decide who you are.”
There appear to be no hard feelings between the two, although Cage admitted during a 2018 profile in The Guardian that he and Arquette hadn’t talked “in a long time.”
Both Cage and Arquette are now in committed relationships
Cage has married four other women since splitting from Arquette. He was betrothed to Lisa Marie Presley for four months in 2002 before filing for divorce. Cage then put a ring on Alice Kim in 2004. They share a son named Kal-El and broke up in 2016.
Cage’s most infamous marriage was to Erika Koike, who he wed in Las Vegas only to file an annulment four days later. The divorce was made official three months later. In 2021, he married his current wife, Riko Shibata. Their daughter, August Francesca, was born on September 7, 2022.
Meanwhile, Arquette became engaged to actor Thomas Jane in 2002, but they didn’t tie the knot until 2006. They have a daughter together named Harlow and they officially divorced in 2011. The Severance star has been dating painter Eric White since 2014.
