In her life, Arquette’s had two divorces and two children; one from an early romance and the second from her most recent marriage. In the middle was her wild romance with Nic Cage, which began in a deli when Cage saw her for the first time and felt love at first sight. He asked her to marry him right then, but she blew him off without taking him seriously.
He asked for a quest of items to bring her to demonstrate his love, and when he completed the quest she would have to marry him. Arquette must have been a little into the idea, because she gave him a thoughtful and charming list of items. She wanted a black orchid (non-existent), J.D Salinger’s signature (extremely rare), a wedding dress from northern Thailand, and an iconic Bob’s Big Boy statue.
Nicholas Cage told Playboy in 1996 how he wasted no time presenting her with the items. The orchid was purple, spray painted black. He managed to find a Salinger signature on a family heirloom letter. By the time she got the first two items on her list, Arquette agreed to run away with him. That wasn’t intense enough for Cage though, who made plans to take her to Cuba to meet his family.
When a travel mishap sent Cage into a wild tantrum, Patricia got spooked and left him at the airport. It was just the beginning of their relationship together, though they would hardly speak for the next eight years. Not until they both happened to be at the exact same deli where they first met would they see the same romantic potential in each other.
Two months after that second chance meeting, Arquette called Cage and asked him to get married. He immediately said yes. Months after their wedding, Arquette would tell The New YorkTimes that she spent their eight years apart searching for “an honorable, truthful, brave man.” Once she knew she’d found him, she showed up at Cage’s house dressed in black vinyl and carrying a purple wedding cake. He knew then he’d found the right woman for him as well.
It wasn’t until Nicholas Cage filed for divorce in 2000 it was revealed the couple had only spent nine months happily married before separating. Unlike many modern romances today, Arquette told Paper Mag that they kept their fighting private. Although there were times that they didn’t live together, she didn’t feel as though they needed it explain their relationship to anyone.
Both actors still speak fondly of each other, and maybe the whirlwind of their romance is still whipping up a reconciliation in their future.