Christie Brinkley Recalls Billy Joel’s Painful Last Words Before She Left Him

Billy Joel has opened up about one of the most heartbreaking chapters of his life — the end of his nine-year marriage to supermodel Christie Brinkley. In the second part of his HBO documentary “Billy Joel: And So it Goes,” the 76-year-old singer admitted he was “devastated” when Brinkley left him in 1994.

“I realized love is not concrete. You know, you feel like it is, but there are things eating away at it, and in the end, it all catches up. And it’s hard. And I was so devastated,” Joel said.

Christie Brinkley Tried to Make It Work

Brinkley, now 70, also spoke emotionally about their marriage, saying she did everything she could to keep it together.

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“I wanted it to work. I knew how lucky I was, having music and all that, but it just didn’t work,” she explained.

The pair met in 1983 in St. Barts, married two years later, and welcomed their daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, soon after. But Brinkley said the relationship began to crumble as Joel’s touring schedule left her feeling lonely.

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“Our relationship went from lots of fun and really enjoying each other to his work consuming him,” Brinkley recalled. “If I did go on the road, I wasn’t seeing him because the unwind period after the show went so late into the night. I just thought, ‘What am I even doing here?’”

Billy Joel’s Struggles

Joel admitted it was a tough time, especially with a young child at home. “I was in a relationship with someone I cared deeply about, but I was not able to be at home. I was not able to be with my family. It was a very sad time for me,” he said.

Brinkley revealed Joel’s drinking habits made things worse. “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, so he didn’t really know how he could hurt people,” she said.

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She recalled pretending to be asleep when he returned home drunk. “One night, we had an argument and I said, ‘I really can’t take this anymore, and I’m just going to take Alexa back up to New York and leave,’ and he said, ‘Yeah, fine, go.’”

Impact on Their Daughter

Joel, who experienced his own parents’ divorce at the age of 8, said he believes Alexa, who was around the same age when they split, sensed what was coming. “For a child, that’s a very traumatic thing. She needed to know I’d always be there,” he added.

Now 39, Alexa Ray Joel has followed in her parents’ artistic footsteps as a singer and songwriter.

Life After Christie Brinkley

After his marriage to Brinkley ended, Joel married celebrity chef Katie Lee in 2004, but they divorced in 2009. In 2015, he married Alexis Roderick, with whom he shares two daughters.

The second part of “Billy Joel: And So it Goes” premieres on Friday, July 25 at 8 p.m. on HBO and HBO Max, following the first part that aired last week.