Christie Brinkley opened up about her rocky marriage to Billy Joel in a brand new documentary concerning the iconic musician’s life.
The mannequin married Joel in 1985, and the 2 welcomed their solely baby, Alexa, later that 12 months.
Brinkley stated that she tried to make her relationship with Joel work, however there was one factor that bought in the way in which.
Michael Ochs Archives by way of Getty Photographs
“I don’t think it’s a secret that his drinking got pretty bad,” Brinkley stated in Half 2 of the musician’s new HBO documentary, “Billy Joel: And So It Goes.” She stated that the singer “couldn’t really remember what he did when he was drinking, and so he didn’t really know how he could hurt people.”
Throughout a very irritating interval of monetary turmoil and touring for Joel, Brinkley stated that “there was too much unraveling in his life.”
She would name bars to search out out the place Joel was, and would faux to be sleeping when he would are available in some nights, so she may keep away from seeing him “in that condition.”
“Our relationship went from lots of fun and really, totally enjoying each other and everything, to his work consuming him,” the mannequin shared. Brinkley stated she didn’t know what to do, however she determined she couldn’t “be lonely.”
It was simply her “and Alexa in this big old house that was supposed to be so full of life and love and music and laughter and all of that,” Brinkley stated as she began to tear up.
The mannequin stated that “things were starting to deteriorate” after which one struggle sealed the deal.
Bruce Glikas by way of Getty Photographs
“One night, we had an argument and I said, ‘I really can’t take this anymore, and I’m just gonna take Alexa back up to New York and leave,’” she recalled. “And he said, ‘Yeah, fine ― go.’”
The 2 divorced in 1994, and Joel revealed what he took away from the tip of their marriage.
“I realized love is not concrete,” the musician stated. “You know, you feel like it is, but there are things eating away at it. And, in the end, it all catches up. And it’s hard. And I was so devastated.”
Brinkley has spoken about Joel’s consuming earlier than in her not too long ago printed memoir, “Uptown Girl.”
“The 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 me,” she stated.
The 71-year-old informed Web page Six in April that “leaving Billy wasn’t easy for me to do.”
“He’s the father of my firstborn and we spent such great formative years together. And I’ll love him forever,” Brinkley shared. “Things just reached a point where I knew I couldn’t live with him.”
