Billy Joel has opened up about the emotional toll of his divorce from supermodel Christie Brinkley, revealing he was “devastated” when their marriage ended. The iconic musician, now 76, was married to Brinkley from 1985 until 1994 and described the early days of their relationship as some of the most joyful of his life. Speaking in the HBO documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes, he admitted, “Here I am dating this beautiful supermodel and… me? I’m from Hicksville. What am I doing with her? What’s she doing with me?”
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Joel described those years as highly productive creatively, explaining that Brinkley was his muse and helped rekindle feelings of youthful romance. “It was like being a teenager all over again,” he recalled. However, despite the excitement of their early connection, he admitted that the pressures of fame and the demands of his music career ultimately put strain on the marriage. “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 reflected.
He acknowledged the emotional complexity of the relationship, saying, “Love is not concrete. You feel like it is, but there are things eating away at it. And in the end, it all catches up. It’s hard. I was so devastated.” His candid remarks shed light on the often-unseen impact of public life and constant travel on personal relationships.
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Joel also opened up about his battle with alcohol and his decision to enter rehab in 2005. His then-wife, Katie Lee, issued him an ultimatum—get help or end their relationship. He admitted: “With the rehab, you don’t go for somebody else. You have to go for yourself.” Lee, who was married to Joel from 2004 to 2009, observed that he struggled most after stepping back from performing. “He needed to be making music… and there were struggles with addiction. It was really hard to navigate that,” she said.
