Priscilla Presley reveals Nicolas Cage threw Lisa Marie Presley’s engagement ring overboard during feud

A newly released memoir from Priscilla Presley recounts a dramatic feud between Nicolas Cage and Lisa Marie Presley on a Southern California yacht, concluding with Cage tossing Lisa Marie’s engagement ring into the Pacific. The six-carat, $65,000 diamond ring became a focal point in a relationship that spanned early 2000s dating to a 2002 marriage and a 2004 divorce, before Lisa Marie’s death in 2023.

In Softly, As I Leave You: Live After Elvis, Priscilla Presley details the episode as the couple sailed off the coast of Catalina Island aboard Cage’s yacht, the Weston. She writes that during what she describes as another of their epic fights, Lisa Marie pulled off her engagement ring and threw it at Cage. Cage then retrieved the jewelry and, she writes, cast it overboard into the Pacific Ocean. The moment, she says, occurred on a day described by Priscilla as dramatic enough to be memorable even in a life full of high-profile moments.

Priscilla presents Cage as dispatching a team of divers to try to recover the ring, though she notes she doubted it was ever found. “As far as I know, the ring is still there,” she writes, underscoring the sense of mystery surrounding the fate of the jewelry. In the memoir, Cage is described as reacting to the incident by moving on with life, including replacing the ring with a larger, more conspicuous piece when the couple’s engagement was renewed.

According to Priscilla, Cage purchased a significantly larger diamond—reported by her as about ten carats—and the couple became engaged again after the incident. She characterizes the replacement as part of a broader pattern of financial tumult surrounding Cage and a penchant for high-priced gestures during a turbulent period in their relationship. The memoir frames the engagement renewal as a fresh start, even as the earlier ring remained a symbol of a volatile moment the couple weathered together.

The book is the latest in a string of revelations surrounding Lisa Marie Presley, who died in January 2023 at age 54. Priscilla’s account adds new context to a romance that began in 2000 and culminated in a 2002 marriage followed by a divorce in 2004. Lisa Marie, a musician and the daughter of Elvis Presley, was previously married to Michael Jackson and Danny Keough. She and Keough had two children, Benjamin and Riley, with Benjamin passing away in 2020 at age 27. Lisa Marie later had twins Harper and Finley with ex-husband Michael Lockwood. The broader family history situates the Fisher King-like arc of celebrity romance within a lifetime of public attention and private sorrow.

Priscilla’s memoir, released Tuesday, arrives as Cage, an Academy Award winner known for roles in films such as Con Air, Face/Off and The Rock, has faced ongoing questions about finances and career choices. In Softly, As I Leave You, she offers a window into a period when Cage’s financial profile was described as uneven, even as he continued to pursue high-profile projects. The replacement ring and renewed engagement, she indicates, were part of a reconciliation attempt that did not alter the eventual arc of their lives apart from that moment at sea.

The anecdotes in the memoir are presented as part of Priscilla Presley’s broader reflections on motherhood, fame, and the long arc of Elvis’s legacy. They come as Lisa Marie Presley’s family and close observers remember her as a central figure in American pop culture, marked by music, film, and a public, often cinematic personal life. The book, which sheds light on the private dimensions of public figures, offers a narrative where personal drama intersects with celebrity history, and where material symbols—such as a ring—take on significance beyond their monetary value.

Representatives for Cage did not respond to requests for comment regarding the specifics of the memoir’s claims. The account adds to a long-running public discourse about the financial pressures actors face in high-earning, high-risk careers and how personal relationships navigate those pressures within the glare of media attention.

Context around the relationship remains important for readers seeking to understand the era in which Lisa Marie Presley and Nicolas Cage navigated romance. The couple’s dating began in 2000, culminating in a wedding two years later and a divorce in 2004. Lisa Marie Presley’s life was marked by multiple marriages and a public profile shaped by her father’s legacy and her own musical path. Her death in 2023 drew renewed attention to her life, her contributions to music, and the personal histories that intersect with the broader narrative of 21st-century celebrity culture.

The book Softly, As I Leave You: Live After Elvis is part of a wave of memoirs in which family members offer intimate portraits of famous figures, sometimes revisiting episodes that were previously reported through tabloids and entertainment press. The new details about the Catalina Island voyage, the engagement ring, and the subsequent replacement ring contribute to a fuller, if still contested, record of a relationship that captured both public fascination and private turmoil. As the culture and entertainment landscape continues to digest these revelations, the story of Lisa Marie Presley and Nicolas Cage remains a notable chapter in the broader story of celebrity romance and its fragility under the pressures of fame.