Nicolas Cage is known for being one of the most eccentric actors in Hollywood, whether he is on or off the screen.
His sheer level of dedication has led many people to believe that he’s taken a dive off of the deep end, but it has earned him the title of a most dedicated and memorable actor.
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Although Cage may not be appearing in as many movies as he used to, he is still an active member of Hollywood.
With all the strange decisions Cage has made over the years, some people are left to wonder what happened to him.
What Happened To Nicolas Cage?
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Tragedy struck Nicolas Cage well before he was ever born.
What happened to him impacted the way he looked at the world in a deep and profound way.
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Cage’s mother suffered from schizophrenia, which is something she struggled with her entire life.
Her name was Joy Vogelsang, and she had been a dancer in her younger years.
She was strikingly beautiful and showed Nicolas Cage and his brother another way to see the world.
While Nicolas Cage found beauty in the way that his mother saw the world, some family memories are drenched in just as much fear as they are drenched in wonder.
At an extremely young age, Cage was able to see the way his mother suffered and how old-fashioned treatments for her mental illness only caused her more pain.
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Some of the most upsetting memories that Nicolas Cage had as a child were the times he visited his mother at the mental institution.
He hated the way that hands would reach out from behind barred doors to grab him as he made his way down the long hallways.
What made him even more upset was the way his mother would appear after receiving shock therapy.
Eventually, Cage became numb to the anxiety he felt and was able to look at the situation his mother was in from a scientific level, but he still saw that the way she was being treated was wrong.
Despite the upsetting things that Nicolas Cage went through as a child, he still saw his mother as affectionate, beautiful, charismatic, and talented.
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The mother–son pair had a close relationship, but she sadly passed away at the age of 85 after spending two weeks in the hospital.
Nicolas Cage claims that she was the driving force behind his creativity and work ethic.
Buying The Stolen Skull Of A Dinosaur
Nicolas Cage bought the skull of a Tyrannosaurus bataar for $276,000 in 2007.
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The dinosaur skull was sold at a Beverly Hills gallery, where Cage reportedly outbid fellow actor Leonardo DiCaprio for the prized fossil.
The Tyrannosaurus bataar is a relative to the Tyrannosaurus rex.
These dinosaurs walked the Earth 70 million years ago and have only been discovered in Mongolia.
Seven years later, Cage received a call from the Department of Homeland Security, who had some alarming news regarding the actor’s fossil.
At the time, the Department of Homeland Security believed that the skull Cage had bought was actually stolen from a museum in Mongolia.
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The fossil dealer, Eric Prokopi, had just been jailed for smuggling entire sets of dinosaur bones, one of which being a Tyrannosaurus bataar.
When the actor had initially bought the skull, the news made headlines all over tabloids and pop culture magazines.
In 2015, it was determined that Nicolas Cage’s dinosaur skull was indeed the one stolen from the Mongolian museum.
By December of 2015, Cage had sent the skull of the Tyrannosaurus bataar back to where it belonged and could be enjoyed by many people.
Due to how common the theft of dinosaur fossils is in Mongolia, the exportation of dinosaur fossils was criminalized in 1924.
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Although Cage may have lost his dinosaur skull, he has other rare treasures that he’s picked up over the years.
Cage has a collection of shrunken heads that he keeps on display at his house.
Nobody knows exactly why he owns them, but perhaps his National Treasure series inspired a love for the preservation of history.
When the actor passes away, he plans on having his body laid to rest inside a massive pyramid tomb in the St. Louis Cemetery.
Cage’s love of history will live on forever.
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Taking Real Estate To Whole New Level
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There was a point in Nicolas Cage’s life where he owned 15 different residences around the world and has made himself just as much of a treasure hunter as he is a house hunter.
Although he may not own many of these houses anymore, he has still been the owner of many famous homes around the world.
Cage once owned the “Most Haunted House in America,” which was originally owned by the crazed 19th century Madame Delphine LaLaurie.
Madame LaLaurie was known for torturing and murdering slaves on the property.
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This Louisiana home is located in the French District of New Orleans.
The historical home was purchased by Cage in 2007, but he was forced to sell it in 2009.
Another famous home that Nicolas Cage owned was his $25 million beachfront home on Newport Beach with a yacht-ready dock that Cage had installed when moving in.
Although the home seemed perfect, he got scared off his own property when a fan broke into the home.
One night, Nicolas Cage awoke to find a fan wearing nothing but one of his leather jackets and eating a Fudgesicle next to his bed.
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The actor quickly sold the property for $35 million and immediately used the money to purchase cars and another home.
Cage once bought an old English country mansion in Newport, Rhode Island for $15.7 million.
He eventually had to sell that property at a $9.5 million loss, but it didn’t stop him from purchasing more eccentric homes.
He went to sell the house for $9.94 million but was unable to get a seller and was forced to foreclose the house in 2010.
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His Private Island And Castles
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As if buying up any of the luxury homes he wanted wasn’t enough, Nicolas Cage has purchased an entire island and two different castles.
When it comes to property, Cage has proven that he is still willing to purchase whatever he can afford.
In 2003, Cage purchased Leaf Cay Island in the Bahamas for $3 million.
The island is home to multiple luxury hotels, which are frequented by the rich and famous from all over the world.
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Leaf Cay Island is 30 acres and includes three majestic beaches, an area with protected deep sea access, and a small pond in the center.
The private island is currently up for sale and has an asking price of $7.5 million.
In 2006, Nicolas Cage purchased a 500-year-old Bavarian castle in Etzelwang, Germany named Neidstein Castle.
The castle is 9,688 square feet and has 28 different rooms with 10 bedrooms and five bathrooms.
When Cage first bought the castle, it was dilapidated and on the verge of crumbling.
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Luckily, Cage was more than willing to pay for the restoration of the historic castle.
The property comes with 400 acres of grasslands and forests.
For the castle and all of the land, Cage paid $2.3 million and seems to be the most reasonable property purchase has yet to make.
Only a year after being his first castle, Cage decided to purchase a second castle in Midford Valley, England.
He purchased the Midford Castle and the 47 surrounding acres for about £5 million.
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Just as he had done with his last castle, he intended to restore the place.
However, Cage was forced to sell the castle only two years after purchasing it.
The owner who purchased the house from Cage was able to complete the renovations that Cage started.
His Exotic Pets
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Although most people know that Nicolas Cage has eaten a grasshopper on the set of Vampire’s Kiss, what you may not know is that the eccentric actor is also a huge animal lover.
While none of his pets are traditional, he cares for them all deeply.
Cage has had a long list of exotic pets, which he credits for teaching him how to act better and inspiring him.
One of the pets that he claims has helped his acting the most is his $150,000 octopus.
Cage purchased his two albino king cobras, Moby and Sheba, for a combined $276,000.
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He later sold them because he believed they were unhappy and had a habit of hypnotizing him with their back scales before lunging at him.
Nicolas Cage also has two crows named Huggin and Hoogan, which are both pretty intelligent.
While Hoogan is known for being the more intelligent of the two crows, Huggin still knows about words such as “hi,” “goodbye,” and “a**hole.”
Cage was able to watch Huggin hatch from his egg and knew from the start that he was going to need special care.
Between the troublesome antics and high maintenance care that comes with owning crows, Cage was ready to have his hands full from the start.
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Despite the bird’s mischievous hijinks, Cage loves being a crow owner and finds their intelligence fascinating.
These birds are living the high life in their massive and luxurious 16-foot geodesic dome
The most traditional pets that Nicolas Cage owns are his two Maine Coons, Tigra and Merlin.
Merlin was adopted from the OtiCami Maine Coon Cattery and is completely black.
Tigra was named after her striped pattern.
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Cage has admitted that has considering getting an even bigger breed of cat, like a Savannah.
Going Through 5 Marriages
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Since 1995, Nicolas Cage has been married to five different women.
Each relationship has its own portion of the Nicolas Cage strangeness that the public has come to know and be amused by.
Nicolas Cage’s first wife was actress Patricia Arquette, whom he married in 1995.
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The pair had met at a restaurant in 1987 and Cage proposed to Arquette on the spot.
He requested Arquette to send him on a “quest” to earn her hand in marriage, and he would do it immediately.
Shocked by the older actor’s request, Arquette gave him a list of things that she thought to be impossible.
Some of the things on her list included getting an autograph from J.D. Salinger, a Hill tribe wedding costume, stealing a Bob’s Big Boy statue, and finding a black orchid.
As soon as he returned with her requested items, Arquette was in shock, and Cage asked to marry her once again.
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Sadly, their relationship did last long, and they were divorced by 2001.
The following year, Nicolas Cage decided to marry the daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie Presley.
Again, this relationship didn’t last long, and they were divorced only three months later.
Although they aren’t married anymore, they’ve remained friends.
In 2004, Nicolas Cage married 19-year-old waitress Alice Kim.
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Cage felt that he had a more stable lifestyle when he was with Kim, who is also the mother of his younger son Kal-El.
His shortest marriage was with makeup artist Erika Koike in March 2019, and they divorced that same month.
The pair had been dating for a year and got married while intoxicated in Las Vegas.
His most recent marriage is with 27-year-old Riko Shibata, whom he married in Las Vegas in 2020.
Cage claims they’re “very happy.”
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His Recent Drunken Escapades
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On September 13th of 2021, Nicolas Cage was thrown out of Lawry’s Prime Rib by staff members after arguing with staff and other patrons of the restaurant.
He originally waltzed into the upscale steakhouse wearing nothing more than a black t-shirt, leopard-print pajama pants, and flip flops.
After downing multiple shots of tequila and a 1980 single-malt Macallan whiskey, Cage began to walk around the restaurant shoeless, attempting to pick fights with anyone.
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Nicolas Cage was in such rough shape that the staff and patrons didn’t recognize him at first and assumed that he was a homeless man.
Then again, a homeless man wouldn’t be able to afford to drink over $2,800 worth of alcohol in just one sitting.
Cage has suffered from substance abuse since his early 20s.
One of his most infamous tales of his drug use was the time that he took magic mushrooms with his cat named Lewis.
All Cage remembers doing is lying on his bed, staring at his cat as the cat stared straight back, and he began believing that his cat was his brother.
Nicolas Cage told The Guardian that he becomes incredibly self-destructive when he doesn’t have work to do.
Work keeps him focused on what he needs to get done and keeps him too busy to make horrible life decisions.
His sons, Weston and Kal-El are another inspiration that has kept Cage in line.
Cage knew that he couldn’t be going on crazy, drug-induced benders and be a good father at the same time.
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Nicolas Cage Is Unforgettable
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While there may be an argument as to whether Nicolas Cage is the greatest actor of all time, there is no denying that he is easily one of the most unforgettable actors of the 20th and 21st centuries.
From the wild characters he plays on the screen to real-life scenarios that sound like they came straight out of a movie, Cage has proven that he can hold the spotlight without even having to appear in a movie.
Despite having taken well over 100 different roles, Nicolas Cage has vowed to never retire from acting.
Cage claims that he is happiest while he is working, so there’s no reason for him to give up his job.
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Although some of his friends in Hollywood are concerned about the level of work that he takes on constantly, Cage claims that his dedication to his work keeps him healthier and in a better state of mind.
If working is what keeps Nicolas Cage in a place where he is proud of himself, then he should continue to the movie industry for as long as he pleases.
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