Showbiz`s Most Disastrous Marriage
Few marriages in the history of Showbiz have been as catastrophic as that of Jerry Lee Lewis (1935 – ) and Myra Gale Brown. Born and raised in Louisiana, Lewis was an early pioneer of rock and roll, who began recording in 1956. The following year, he became world famous for his hit There’s a Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On. Soon thereafter came his signature song, the insta-classic Great Balls of Fire, one of Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Songs.
By then, Lewis had already gone through two failed marriages. He divorced his second wife to wed for a third time, after falling head over heels in love with Myra Gale Brown. One hiccup was that she was his cousin, although once removed. A bigger hiccup is that she was 13 year old. She still believed in Santa Claus on her wedding night.
Marrying one’s cousin, or a 13 year old girl, was not commonplace in Louisiana back then, but nor was it considered extreme. So given his upbringing, Lewis did not think Myra’s age, or her blood relation, was a big deal. To the extent he was worried about scandal, it had more to with the timing of the wedding: his third marriage had been performed before finalizing the divorce from his second wife.
Lewis was warned not to take his child bride with him on his first European tour, but he ignored the warning. He should have listened. Arriving in Britain in May of 1958, he introduced Myra to reporters as his wife, but claimed she was 15 – still shockingly young. Myra made it worse by remarking that 15 was not too young to marry, because where she came from: “You can marry at 10, if you can find a husband“.
Once the press on both sides of the Atlantic discovered Myra’s true age, the backlash was fierce. The British press was particularly vicious, labeling Lewis a “baby snatcher” and “cradle robber”, urging a boycott of his concerts, and calling for his deportation as a child molester. Tour dates were cancelled, and Lewis and Myra were forced to flee back to the US.
When their plane landed in New York, the US press was no kinder than the British. Lewis had experienced a meteoric rise, and at the peak of his career, he rivaled Elvis. It crashed and burned spectacularly, and his personal appearance fees dropped from the then princely sum of $10,000 a night, to $250. He reinvented himself a decade later as a country singer, performing for audiences less offended by performers wedding child brides who also happened to be blood relatives.