The JERRY LEE LEWIS Only I Knew

THE ROCK & ROLL LEGEND'S TEENAGE BRIDE SHARES THE TRUE STORY OF THEIR CONTROVERSIAL MARRIAGE

- Louise A. Barile

Myra Lewis Williams admits that Jerry Lee Lewis didn’t make a good first impression. “His haircut was way too short, and his ears stuck out. He had a red plaid shirt and blue jeans, and he looked like a hick,” she tells Closer. But then he started playing piano. “That got my attention. I went, ‘Oh, my God. This man is some kind of talented.’” The pioneering performer, famed for hits like “Great Balls of Fire” and “Breathless,” won four Grammys and was among the inaugural class of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; but news of his controversial marriage to the teenage Myra, who was the daughter of Jerry’s first cousin, nearly derailed his career. Despite the scandal, their union survived 13 years and produced two children before Jerry’s pill abuse drove Myra away.