Billy Joel reached the upper echelons of wealth and celebrity through his iconic music, but the singer has admitted the one thing he struggles with is love.
The 76-year-old is three-times divorced—with previous marriages to Elizabeth Weber (from 1973-1982), Christie Brinkley (1985-1994), and Katie Lee (2004-2010)—though he has managed to be on good terms with each of his ex-wives. Their roles in his decades-long career are examined in Billy Joel: And So It Goes. The first half of the two-part documentary is now streaming on HBO Max.
“You can have all the money in the world, you can have mansions, you can have properties, you can have yachts, you can have limousines, you can have motorcycles,” Joel told his official biographer Fred Schruers. But, without love, “it doesn’t mean a goddamn thing.”
Luckily, Joel has seemingly found happiness with his fourth wife, former hedge fund manager Alexis Roderick. The couple married in 2015 and have two children together: daughters Della and Remy.
Still, Joel has proven his knack for spinning heartache into chart-topping hits. “You just need one—one person out of millions—to know and accept and love you for being, well, just the way you are,” he told Schruers. “I see old folks walking down the street who look like they’ve been together 50 years, and there’s something very touching about it—that they’ve lasted so long. I used to wonder: How come I don’t have that? I can dream about it, think about it, write music and lyrics and sing about it. I can even try to achieve it again, and often have.”
Here are the love stories behind some of Joel’s most famous tunes:
Joel wrote “Just the Way You Are” for Weber’s birthday
Falling in love with and marrying his first wife, Weber, was arguably the costliest relationship Joel ever had.
Joel met Weber when she was married to his bandmate, Jon Small, in 1970. Her independence and straight-talking style had Joel smitten from the start. The two began having an affair, but Weber ended up leaving both men. This caused Joel, then 21, to experience suicidal thoughts; he even wound up in a mental health facility for a few weeks, according to The New York Times.
Joel discusses this dark period of his life in And So It Goes. “I had no place to live,” Joel recalled. “I was sleeping in laundromats, and I was depressed, I think to the point of almost being psychotic. So I figured, ‘That’s it. I don’t want to live anymore.’”
Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or self-harming behaviors, call or text 988 to get help from the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Eventually, Joel reconciled with Small and reconnected with Weber. She convinced him she should be his manager, and the couple married in 1973. While Joel was madly in love with Weber and wrote the songs “She’s Got a Way” and “She’s Always a Woman” for her, Weber had no shame in directly asking him if she’d receive earnings on the backend for being his muse. Joel wrote Weber the song “Just the Way You Are” for her birthday, and after he played it for her she asked, “Do I get the publishing, too?”
Before the couple divorced in 1982, Joel also made the grave mistake of allowing Weber’s brother, Frank, to work for him. Later, the singer discovered Frank had secretly stolen tens of millions from him, causing Joel to sue Weber for $30 million in compensatory damages and $60 million in punitive damages, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“I hooked up with the Borgias!” Joel said in his official biography. “What a family to pick.”
Christie Brinkley inspired “This Is the Time” and Joel’s album An Innocent Man
After his divorce from Weber, Joel went to St. Bart’s for a holiday getaway. He began playing at a piano bar, and it was there he met supermodels Elle MacPherson, Christie Brinkley, and up-and-coming singer, Whitney Houston.
When 33-year-old Joel returned to his Central Park penthouse in New York, he was shocked to see that MacPherson, who was just 19, and Brinkley, 28, were competing for his affections. Joel couldn’t believe his luck, and although he briefly dated MacPherson, it was Brinkley who ultimately won his heart.
The couple married in 1985 and Joel’s album An Innocent Man was inspired by his relationship with Brinkley. He also wrote “This Is the Time” for her—a song that imagines a couple reminiscing about their best days together.
Joel and Brinkley’s daughter Alexa Ray, born in December 1985, also provided inspiration for songs such as “Temptation” and “Goodnight My Angel.”
However, Joel and Brinkley’s marriage had major challenges. Because the Piano Man had suffered a huge financial setback from his legal battle with Frank, he was forced to tour nonstop, which created distance between him and his supermodel wife. After rumors that he was cheating spread, which Joel denied, the marriage fell apart and the couple called it quits in 1994.
Elle MacPherson played a key role in “Uptown Girl”
Brinkley famously appeared as the love interest in Joel's “Uptown Girl” music video, so everyone naturally assumed the song was inspired by her. But in fact, the song was about Joel’s love affair with MacPherson—and then some.
Originally, the song was called “Uptown Girls,” which encompassed his experience dating not only MacPherson and Brinkley but also another woman who preceded them. In the end, he made the song singular, and by the time the music video rolled around, he was dating Brinkley. The rest is history.
Expressing his insecurities about dating a much younger (and taller) woman on the brink of superstardom and whom he believed would ultimately leave him, Joel wrote “And So It Goes” for MacPherson.
“I remember somebody got a shot of us walking down a beach at Coney Island,” Joel said. “…Elle was so tall that I looked like Bubbles the Chimp next to her, and I realized this was just not going to work.”
It remains to be seen if Joel’s current marriage to Roderick will inspire any more songs. But as he proved with the release of 2024’s “Turn the Lights Back On,” Joel’s musical creativity is still very much alive.
Tyler Piccotti joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor and is now the News and Culture Editor. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor for a daily newspaper recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors. In his current role, he shares the true stories behind your favorite movies and TV shows and profiles rising musicians, actors, and athletes. When he's not working, you can find him at the nearest amusement park or movie theater and cheering on his favorite teams.
