Christie Brinkley Says Billy Joel’s Alcoholism Was the Explanation for Their Divorce

Studying Time: 3 minutes

From 1985 to 1994 Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley had been one of many world’s largest energy {couples}.

She was the world’s most well-known supermodel, and he was the singer-songwriter liable for a slew of beloved hits.

However the marriage ended on a bitter be aware, and now, Christie is opening up for the primary time about what went improper.

Christie Brinkley says she and Billy Joel parted methods due to his consuming

In excerpts from her new memoir revealed by Individuals journal, the style icon says that the cut up was a results of Joel’s alcoholism.

“To be clear, I never wanted to end things with Billy. But his drinking was bigger than the both of us,” she mentioned.

“In the end, when the relationship isn’t functioning the way you want it to be anymore — that’s the worst kind of loneliness because you just can’t make it work together and that’s painful.”

Joel has spoken overtly about his struggles with substance abuse. In 2023, he advised the Los Angeles Instances that he’d give up consuming “a couple of years ago.”

“It wasn’t a big AA kick. I just got to a point where I’d had enough. I didn’t enjoy being completely inebriated, and it probably created more problems in my life than I needed,” he continued, including:

“I don’t need it now. I used to get offstage and be so wound up and adrenalized that I needed something to calm down to go to sleep. But I realized when you’re drinking yourself to sleep, you’re not really sleeping. You’re just passing out.”

Within the years since her cut up from Joel, Brinkley has had two extra marriages, one to actual property developer Ricky Taubman, and a second to architect Peter Cook dinner. Each resulted in divorce.

Elsewhere in her ebook, Brinkley gushed about her early days with Joel.

“We laughed like you couldn’t believe. But also he was so sensitive and he did all the old-fashioned things, the flowers, the notes and the poems and the songs,” she mentioned.

“He was going into the recording studio and he was writing all these songs and saying ‘This one’s for you.’ How could I not fall in love with him?” Brinkley continued, explaining that she doesn’t see the singer fairly often nowadays, however they nonetheless get alongside.

”He lives primarily in Florida so we don’t see him as a lot as when he lived in Sag Harbor,” she mentioned.

“But when he comes by to see [daughter] Alexa, he’ll come in and say hello.”

Requested about Joel’s response to her memoir, Christie remarked, “Alexa described it to him, and he’s like, ‘Sounds good, no problem.’”

So it might have taken some time to get there — nevertheless it appears like Billy and Christie have reached a steady place of their relationship.