Movies

Billy Joel tried to kill himself twice before realizing he could channel his sadness into music

BBG News

Billy Joel’s life is awash in revelations these days — some bad, some worse.

Last month, the artist known for “Only the Good Die Young” announced the cancellation of all his upcoming shows, explaining that he’s battling a brain condition leading to a type of dementia, which can be reversible. Recently, he disclosed that in his twenties, he tried taking his own life twice due to a romantic entanglement with his bandmate’s wife, an incident that ultimately led to the disintegration of their group.

Music

Due to the need for concentrated attention on managing normal pressure hydrocephalus, a condition that causes an accumulation of excess fluid within the brain, Billy Joel has decided to postpone all his forthcoming performances.

In the heart of the documentary “Billy Joel: And So It Goes,” I confessed my deep remorse. You see, she had a child, and I couldn’t shake off the feeling that I was intruding upon their home. I felt like an unwelcome guest, a destructive force.

Love, as they say, hurts sometimes. And in this case, it left me bruised – not physically, but emotionally. I was smitten by a woman, and my affections were met with a harsh reality, one I couldn’t escape. I took the blow, a punch to the heart that I knew I deserved.

Joel expressed that he and his friend and bandmate of Attila, Jon Small, were deeply troubled by events that transpired while Joel resided with Small and Small’s spouse, Elizabeth Weber at the time. The distress was so intense that it led to the dissolution of Attila, a metal band inspired by Led Zeppelin as described by the New York Times, and Joel found himself turning to excessive drinking, which further exacerbated his situation.

In the documentary, Joel admits he had nowhere to call home. He resorted to spending his nights in laundromats and felt so low, bordering on severe mental instability, that he considered ending his life.

In the early 1970s, as suggested by a documentary, he made two attempts to take his own life. Initially, he consumed all the sleeping pills his sister, who was a medical professional at the time, had provided for his insomnia. This led him to be hospitalized.

Books

In her autobiography ‘Uptown Girl’, Christie Brinkley recounts the terrifying event that ultimately caused her to end her marriage with Billy Joel.

Judy Molinari stated in the show, ‘He lay in a coma for weeks on end.’ She feared she may have taken her brother’s life.

According to the document, Joel admitted that he awoke in the hospital still contemplating suicide and planning to carry it out more successfully next time. His sister shared that on this occasion, Joel consumed “lemon Pledge” cleaning solution, a type of furniture polish. Remarkably, during this incident, Small – who was once his close friend but had drifted apart – was the unexpected one to take him to the hospital.

“Eventually,” Small says in the documentary, “I forgave him.”

Regarding his urges to self-harm, things turned out favorably for Joel following his departure from the facility where he voluntarily admitted himself after his second suicide attempt.

Music

Some followers of Billy Joel weren’t too pleased with CBS, as their broadcast unexpectedly ended during the 100th show of Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden. Here’s where you can watch the entire performance instead.

After leaving the observation room, a thought crossed my mind – I could take those feelings and direct them towards creating music.

Approximately a year later, Joel resumed contact with Weber, who later became the subject of his 1973 song “Piano Man.” Their marriage lasted from that point until 1982. Afterwards, he went on to marry Christie Brinkley, Katie Lee, and is currently wed to Alexis Roderick.

Initially, the film delves into Joel’s early life and chronicles events up until his 1982 motorcycle mishap, as reported by The New York Times. It isn’t until the second section that he encounters his “Uptown Girl,” Brinkley.

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2025-06-11 00:01

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