In 1949, five-year-old Myra Brown cried all the way to Memphis, Tennessee, leaving behind her rural Louisiana roots. She had no idea that a few years later, she’d be at the center of one of the most controversial love stories in American music history—one that nearly ended Jerry Lee Lewis’s career.
The Spark of a Star—and a Scandal
Jerry Lee Lewis was a firebrand of talent, only 21 years old and already married twice. Myra was just 13 when she saw him on the Steve Allen Show, playing “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.” From that moment, she idolized him.
But Jerry saw more than admiration in her eyes. He took her for ice cream, invited her to the movies. She thought he was just being kind to a kid—but slowly, without her fully realizing it, he was falling in love with her. One day, he showed her a marriage license—obtained by forging her name.
“Myra, I love you, and I want to marry you,” he told her.
And she, a child swept up in emotion and awe, said she loved him too.
The Fallout Begins
Her father exploded with fury when he found the marriage license. He stormed toward Sun Records with a gun, but Sam Phillips calmed him. The damage, however, had already been done. The marriage went forward—and what followed would nearly destroy Jerry Lee’s career.
When the couple arrived in England for a tour, a British reporter discovered that not only was Myra just 13, but she was also Jerry’s cousin, and he wasn’t yet divorced from his second wife.
The media erupted. Headlines branded Jerry a pedophile, a bigamist, a fraud. Once cheered, he was now booed on stage, venues half-empty. The scandal followed him back to America. The rock ‘n’ roll star who once made thousands per night was now making a few hundred—if he could book a show at all.
“I didn’t make it happen,” Myra later reflected, “but I didn’t stop it either. And I could have.”
A Love Erodes
The marriage deteriorated in private. Jerry became volatile, verbally and physically abusive. Myra tried to please him, but it was never enough. One night, after a neighbor made her spaghetti, he hurled the food tray at her.
Even as Jerry reinvented himself in the country music world during the late ’60s, scoring hits like Another Place, Another Time, his behavior only worsened. Myra received an anonymous phone call—he’d been cheating for years, even just 11 months into their marriage.
She ran to her church, collapsed at the altar, and knew:
“This was not the man I was going to spend my life with.”
She returned to the house to collect her things—and walked in on Jerry with another woman in their bed.
Legacy and Survival
Though Jerry would go on to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, remembered as a pioneer, Myra had to live with the trauma—and the strength it took to leave.
In her later years, she found peace.
“I’m happy with myself. I’ve learned tremendous lessons about life. And if I had to do it all over again… I’d probably do it all over again.”
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