Where is Myra Brown now? Jerry Lee Lewis' career derailed after he married his 13-yr-old first cousin
ATLANTA, GEORGIA: The alleged notorious King of rock 'n' roll Jerry Lee Lewis who died aged 87, due to natural causes on Friday, October 28, reportedly shared a love story like none other. The rock 'n' roll pioneer was dubbed as "one of the most influential pianists of the 20th century" but the musician nearly lost it all after his scandalous marriage to his 13-year-old first cousin Myra Gale Brown who was infamously known as "13-year-old-child-bride-Myra," as per New York Post.
Lewis reportedly has been married seven times, but it was his third marriage to Myra Brown in 1957, when he was 22 years old, that allegedly ruined his career. The artist who was at the peak of his career was boycotted from his music and blacklisted at venues after his infamous marriage to Brown. Lewis' stardom dropped instantly with his appearance fees that plummeted from $10,000 a night to $250 and he was labeled as a “cradle robber” and “baby snatcher” by the UK media, reported New York Post.
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On December 12, 1958, Myra, 13, married Lewis, 22, in Hernando, Mississippi. The couple's controversial marriage comes after the newlyweds arrived in London in May 1958 for Lewis' 37-day tour. Brown allegedly told a reporter she was Lewis' wife, and Lewis claimed Brown was 15 years old and had been his wife for two months. The press reportedly later learned that Brown was 13 years old and that the couple had been married for 5 months. The scandal sparked outrage, and Lewis' tour was allegedly canceled.
What allegedly fueled the fire was the press's discovery, after Lewis returned to Memphis, that Brown was the daughter of Lewis' cousin and bass player, JW Brown. Lewis had also reportedly not divorced his second wife, Jane Mitcham. On June 4, 1958, Lewis divorced Mitcham and remarried Brown. By then, the musician's promising rock 'n' roll career had reportedly been ruined by his marriage. Lewis and Brown have two children, Steve and Phoebe, but their turbulent marriage ended in 1970, when Brown filed for divorce on the grounds of adultery and abuse, claiming that she had been "subject to every type of physical and mental abuse imaginable."
Shortly after her divorce, Brown married Pete Malito, the detective she hired to track Lewis' infidelity, and their marriage lasted for a year and a half. Brown is also the co-author of the book 'Great Balls of Fire: The Uncensored Story of Jerry Lee Lewis' (1982) which was adapted into the film 'Great Balls of Fire!' (1989), as per Wikipedia. She married her third husband, Richard Williams, in 1984. Brown now reportedly works as a real estate agent in Atlanta and enjoys huge success. She currently resides in Duluth, Georgia with her husband Richard, and is known as Myra Lewis Williams. However Richard wrote in his Instagram post from 2015 that "Brown had keep in contact with Lewis over the years due to their shared daughter, Phoebe," reported Newsweek. But Lewis' seventh marriage to Judith Lewis, the ex-wife of Brown’s brother put a strain on their relationship.