Billy Joel bared it all in Billy Joel: And So It Goes.
The two-part HBO documentary — released on July 18 and July 25 — offered an inside look into the Piano Man’s life, exploring “the love, loss, and personal struggles that fuel his songwriting,” according to the film’s official description.
“I’m not finished. … I’m still looking. I’m still searching,” Joel, 76, told viewers in the second part of the film. “I may not ever figure it all out. But I’m trying.”
After making the film, the singer was diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus in May. During a recent appearance on the “Club Random” podcast, Joel said he was doing “good” amid the illness and guessed that the diagnosis was related to his past alcohol struggles, something that is detailed at length in the documentary.
Keep scrolling for some of the biggest takeaways from Billy Joel: And So It Goes:
DUI Rumors
Joel has been honest about his alcohol struggles, but the one thing that he maintains never happened was a DUI.
“I didn’t like the tabloid kind of press. For example, there’s this rumor that I have all these DUIs,” the singer said in the film. “That never happened.”
Joel continued to recall the “gossip” and “rumors” surrounding his life after rising to fame.
“People keep repeating the myth. ‘Oh, he’s got so many DUIs.’ I never had a DUI. So f*** you,” he said. “The press can be mean. So having that much attention paid to you is not easy.”
Drama With Elton John
Joel and John were longtime friends and tour partners. However, John made a comment in 2011 to Rolling Stone about Joel needing to go back to rehab, which caused some drama between them.
“Elton had made a comment that he thought I needed real rehab,” Joel said in the documentary. “He trucked it up to, ‘Oh, he’s a drunk.’ And that really hurt me. I said, ‘Wait a minute, don’t you know me better than that?’ And there was bad blood for a little while.”
His Actual Time in Rehab
Joel’s ex-wife Katie Lee Biegel discussed his alcohol struggles in the film. (They were married from 2004 to 2009.)
“With the rehab you don’t go for somebody else, you go for yourself,” Joel. “You have to want to do it. I didn’t want to do it.”
Biegel said it was “hard to recover” from Joel not wanting to get better.
Split From Christie Brinkley
Brinkley appeared in the documentary to discuss her past relationship with Joel. The former couple were married for nine years before getting divorced in 1994. They share one daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, and are still friends to this day. (Joel is also a father of two daughters with wife Alexis Roderick.)
“I don’t think it’s a secret that his drinking got pretty bad. And he couldn’t really remember what he did when he was drinking, and so he didn’t really know how he could hurt people,” Brinkley recalled, noting that she would “pretend” to be asleep when Joel came home so she didn’t have to see him intoxicated.
“Then, one night we had an argument, and I said, ‘I really can’t take this anymore, and I’m just gonna take Alexa back up to New York and leave.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, fine, go,’” she added. Elsewhere in the film, Brinkley felt “lonely” in their house when “things were starting to deteriorate” in their marriage.
Billy Joel: And So It Goes is now streaming on HBO Max.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
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