Jerry Lee Lewis’ teenage bride speaks out: ‘I was the adult and Jerry was the child’
Jerry Lee Lewis was 16 when he married 19-year-old Linda Thompson in 1960. While the singer was the adult, her mother, Mary Lou Williams, was the mother.
“It was a happy day I was in love,” said Lewis in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday night. He said he would often be embarrassed when Mary Lou told him that she wanted to get married at 16.
“A few times when my mom had gotten so embarrassed she said, ‘Jerry, now come on, no one is getting married in this house at age 16.'”
And now, 50 years later, the two were still married, living in their home state of Louisiana, with their two dogs and cat.
“You know, it’s funny, that’s exactly what I told her, I said, ‘I’m the adult and he’s the child. And when I’m happy, I think he’s happy, but when I’m not, he is too,'” Lewis said.
He added, “It was not like we were having an affair or anything. We were just young and we found each other that young. You know, we loved each other.”
Despite their love, which was based on their youth and the fact that they were both students at nearby Bayou Lafourche High School in Louisiana, Lewis spoke out against his ex-wife’s recent divorce for child support.
“I don’t think that’s fair, and so I spoke up.”
Lewis said he has spoken out against the current divorce law in Louisiana, saying it has “a lot to do with sex and a lot to do with emotional needs.”
“I do believe that that is something that needs to be looked into.”
In a Facebook post, Lewis asked Mary Lou to come up with a plan for their finances if and when they have a baby, and they decide to remarry “as friends.”
Lewis and Mary Lou met in 1956 when their parents, Bob and Ruth Williams, invited the couple back
