Christie Brinkley has revealed the challenges of her marriage to Billy Joel, which ultimately led to their divorce after nearly a decade together.
In her newly released memoir, titled Uptown Girl, the 71-year-old former supermodel offers a candid look at the relationship that ended in 1994.
Brinkley writes in the book, which hit shelves this week, that Joel’s alcoholism came to dominate their relationship, which was one of the most high-profile celebrity marriages of the 1980s.
“His drinking was bigger than the both of us—booze was the other woman, and it was beginning to seem that, he preferred to be with ‘her’ rather than with me,” she revealed.
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In the memoir, Brinkley detailed her desperate but unsuccessful attempts to save their marriage. “To be clear, I never wanted to end things with Billy. I read every self-help book I could find while, together, we went to see a string of psychiatrists, psychologists, and other medical doctors,” she wrote.
The model recalled waking up alone one night in 1986 at their Montauk home, discovering Joel had gone drinking at a local bar.
“I felt abandoned, which is a horrible feeling,” she shared. The breaking point came after Brinkley’s 1994 plane crash, when she overheard Joel on the phone saying: “No, don’t worry. I’m not going back to her.”
The couple divorced in the same year.
The former supermodel and Joel first met in January 1983 during a trip to St. Barts, where she found him “charming and hilarious”.
The couple began dating in April that year, with Joel sending flowers to her apartment daily. They married in 1985 in a glamorous New York Harbor ceremony that Brinkley described as “incredible” with “electricity in the air”.
The pair welcomed their daughter Alexa Ray Joel in December 1985.
Their relationship is usually cited as the inspiration for Joel’s iconic hit Uptown Girl, though Brinkley revealed in her memoir that the song wasn’t initially written specifically about her.
Despite their divorce, Brinkley has called Joel “the love of my life” and explained she remains friends with him. Brinkley wrote that she will “love him forever” as “the father of my firstborn”.
“I still love him. The love is still there,” she reiterated during a recent appearance on the Today Show. Joel is believed to have been supportive of Brinkley’s memoir, telling her to “go ahead and tell your story, the good, the bad, whatever you need to say.”
The Piano Man singer has embarked on his own sobriety journey in recent years. In 2023, Joel revealed he had been sober for two years, explaining to the Los Angeles Times that he “didn’t enjoy being completely inebriated” and it “created more problems” than needed.
The legendary singer revealed his drinking and depression became unmanageable after September 11 attacks in New York.
“I wasn’t focused. I went into a deep, deep depression after 9/11… (it) just knocked the wind out of me. and I don’t know even now if I’ve recovered from it. It really, really hurt that man could do that to man,” he told the New York Times.
Earlier this year, the Piano Man was forced to cancel performances due to a “medical condition”.
“While I regret postponing any shows, my health must come first. I look forward to getting back on stage and sharing the joy of live music with our amazing fans. Thank you for your understanding,” he was quoted as saying in the announcement.
