Billy Joel might have been married greater than as soon as, however just one ex-wife has her personal theme tune.
In HBO’s new documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes, the music legend opens up about his marriage to supermodel Christie Brinkley — and the unraveling that adopted. “It was like being a youngster yet again,” Joel says of falling for Brinkley, whom he met in 1983 whereas vacationing in St. Barts. “Experiencing those self same feelings that I had after I was first discovering romance and love.”
They have been married by 1985, welcomed daughter Alexa Ray that very same 12 months, and for some time, it actually was the fantasy. “Right here I’m courting this lovely supermodel and… me? I’m from Hicksville,” Joel says within the doc. “What am I doing together with her? What’s she doing with me?” Nonetheless, he calls that point “very productive,” crediting Brinkley as a muse: “I wrote a whole lot of songs for her.”
However by the tip of the last decade, Joel’s life on the highway — and mounting private struggles — took a toll. Brinkley describes that interval as Joel “boomeranging between being a household man and tortured artist,” typically disappearing to drink whereas his life “unraveled.” His 1989 tune “I Go to Extremes” wasn’t delicate about it, and neither was she: “Booze was the opposite girl,” Brinkley wrote in her 2025 memoir Uptown Woman. “And it was starting to look that he most well-liked to be together with her somewhat than me.”
Joel, who additionally handled betrayal from his longtime supervisor Frank Weber throughout that point, doesn’t deny how onerous it obtained. He filed a $90 million lawsuit over Weber’s alleged fraud and spent years touring to recoup the loss — all whereas drifting farther from residence. “It devastated me,” Joel says of the divorce. “However I by no means blamed her.”
Regardless of all of it, the pair have stayed shut. In April 2024, Joel serenaded Brinkley with “Uptown Woman” at Madison Sq. Backyard. And when he paused touring on account of well being points in 2025, Brinkley posted a heat tribute on behalf of their complete household.
She as soon as stated, “How shut we will be depends upon who he’s married to.” However irrespective of the chapter, the love — and the tune — nonetheless performs.
Earlier than you go, click on right here to see movie star exes who will all the time be pals.