Getting ‘Whacked’ by Dad, Dealing with ‘Likely Bipolar’ Mom

Billy Joel’s childhood wasn’t exactly a walk in the park.

A new documentary about the “Piano Man” singer’s life and career, Billy Joel: And So It Goes, premiered on Wednesday, June 4 at Tribeca Festival in New York City, and both Billy, 76, and his sister, Judy Molinari, open up about their childhood in the film.

The siblings grew up in New York City’s Bronx neighborhood to mom Rosalind and classical pianist dad Howard, whom Billy described in the documentary as a “wonderful pianist.”

Billy began studying piano at age 4, and in the film Judy claimed Howard “never really showed Bill kindness and compassion and understanding towards his talent” growing up.

The “Uptown Girl” artist recalled a memory of himself at age 8, when he was supposed to be playing Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14 as it was written but instead played a rock and roll version of the composition. At one point, Howard “came down the stairs, bang, I got whacked,” said Billy.

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“I got whacked so hard he knocked me out, I was unconscious for like a minute. And I remember waking up going, ‘Well, that got his attention,’ and that was my memory of his piano lessons,” he added in the film with a laugh. “So, he didn’t teach me much.”

Regarding his parents, Billy spoke in the film about lacking memories of them “having fun” together as a couple. “I saw stuff with them when I was a little kid that was not good, things were very tense between them,” he said, noting that he and Judy were “kind of relieved” when they got divorced. [Billy was 8 years old at the time.] They were then raised by Rosalind.

Judy said in the documentary, “When Howard left, it was a relief in that my mother felt more free, but it did give her a lot more stress in that she had to then work very, very hard to keep the family going.”

Her childhood best friend, Wendy Greguski, noted that “a depression settled over the house” following Howard’s exit.

Billy described Rosalind as “a very loving woman” and noted he was “almost smothered” by her affection. “I think it was to try to compensate for my dad’s lack of it. But there were also some troubling things about her. She was very isolated. She was lonely a lot, and I think she drank to assuage her loneliness,” he said in the film.

Rosalind’s alcohol use became prevalent. “I would see mom drinking very often and we would say, ‘Mom don’t start, you know how you get,’ and she would be crying, screaming for hours and hours and hours,” said Judy in the film.

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“We knew that there was something very wrong, that she was most likely bipolar, we didn’t know the word at the time,” she added. “There wasn’t peace because we knew we had to walk on eggshells, that anything could throw her off.”

While Billy felt Rosalind was “difficult to live with,” he also recognized “she was so loving” and noted a “dichotomy” within their relationship in the film.

The siblings grew close as a result. “We felt each other’s pain and worry and we would get strength from each other. We were very close, we were very close, yes. We had to be,” said Judy of Billy.

However, they both ultimately see Rosalind as someone who did the best she could as a mother. “No matter how poor we were at the time or how hard she had to work, mom, she knew that Billy had to have piano lessons. That this had to be nurtured. She knew that he was going to be something someday,” explained Judy.

Billy added of his mother, “Mom was my cheerleader, mom said anything you set your mind out to do you can do. I credit my mom with sticking with me, she never gave up. She was a believer.”

The Grammy winner was not present at the premiere of the film, directed by Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin, as he recently revealed his rare brain condition diagnosis.

Billy Joel: And So It Goes details the “Vienna” singer’s journey from humble Long Island roots to international superstardom through exclusive footage with candid interviews.