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When Billy Joel fell for ex Christie Brinkley, it was like experiencing romance for the first time.
In part two of his HBO documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes, which airs on Friday, July 25, both Joel and Brinkley — who were together for 11 years — recall the early days of their relationship.
The pair met while vacationing in St. Barts in 1983. At the time, they were both living in New York City and decided they’d keep in touch. When they returned to the city, they went on their first “real date” to a Beach Boys concert.
“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? But that was a very productive time for me,” Joel, 76, said in the film. “I wrote a lot of songs for her. She was a muse.”
He continued, “It was like being a teenager all over again. Experiencing those same emotions that I had when I was first discovering romance and love.”
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Reflecting on their “whirlwind romance,” Brinkley, 71, who welcomed daughter Alexa with Joel in 1985, said that their first few years together were “just so much fun.”
But by 1989, as seen in Joel’s single “I Go to Extremes,” which chronicles his inability to stabilize his wide-ranging emotions, cracks had formed in the couple’s foundation. Brinkley said in the doc that the song reflects Joel “boomeranging between being a family man and tortured artist” who’d often disappear in the middle of the night to drink amid his “unraveling” life.
Then there was the matter of his troubles with then-manager Frank Weber, who Joel eventually realized was allegedly mishandling his finances.
Joel filed a $90 million fraud and breach of contract suit against Weber in 1989 (which was later settled), though he was forced to recoup the lost money by ramping up his touring efforts, keeping him on the road and away from his family.
“I was in a relationship with someone who I cared deeply about. But 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,” the “Piano Man” singer said. “I realized 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.”
Brinkley also recalled one of their final fights in the doc, saying he’d been drinking and she was going to leave with their daughter for New York.
“He said, ‘Yeah, fine, go.’ I tried. I wanted it to work,” the model said. “I knew how lucky I was, having music and all of that. But it just didn’t work.”
Joel and Brinkley divorced in 1994 after nine years of marriage. However, they have remained great friends and co-parents. In August 2024, Joel serenaded Brinkley with “Uptown Girl” during a concert at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
The Grammy winner has been happily married to wife Alexis since 2015, and the two are parents to daughters Della, 9, and Remy, 7.
Speaking with PEOPLE in this week’s cover story, the “We Didn’t Start the Fire” singer said he’s “really enjoying this time in my life.” Meanwhile, his longtime friend and lighting designer Steve Cohen praised Alexis, who has stood by the star’s side as he recovers from a recent diagnosis of normal pressure hydrocephalus. (Joel says he’s “OK” despite the treatable brain condition).
“Alexis has been great,” he said. “Going through what he’s going through, getting better from the illnesses and all of that—he’s in a good spot and he’s doing well.”
Billy Joel: And So It Goes, which reflects on the singer’s life, career and music, is streaming on HBO Max.
