Billy Joel has reflected on his relationship with his second wife, supermodel Christie Brinkley, in the second part of his HBO documentary, Billy Joel: And So It Goes. The former couple met in 1983 while on holiday in St. Barts and later discovered they both lived in New York City, leading to their first date at a Beach Boys concert.
Joel, now 76, described the early days of their romance as a creative period, saying, “I wrote a lot of songs for her. She was a muse.” He added that being with Brinkley made him feel “like a teenager all over again.” Brinkley recalled their “whirlwind romance” as “just so much fun” initially, but noted a turning point in 1989 when Joel released the single “I Go to Extreme,” which she felt reflected his struggle between family life and the tortured artist persona.
That same year, Joel filed a $90 million fraud lawsuit against his former manager, Frank Weber, requiring him to adjust his tour schedule, which further strained his relationship with Brinkley and their daughter Alexa. Joel admitted, “I was in a relationship with someone who I cared deeply about. But I was not able to be at home... It was a very sad time for me.”
The couple divorced in 1994 after nine years of marriage. Joel has since married three more times, currently to Alexis Roderick, with whom he has two daughters. Brinkley, who has been married four times, remains close to Joel and titled her memoir Uptown Girl after the 1983 song inspired by her. She told Page Six earlier this year, “To be clear, I never wanted to end things with Billy... we were probably really soulmates.”
