Billy Joel attempted suicide twice after having a secret affair with the wife of his close friend, Jon Small. The "Piano Man" singer spoke openly about this painful period in his life in "Billy Joel: And So It Goes."
He confessed to being "in love" with Elizabeth Weber, the wife of his friend, the Attila band member, while living in their house. Joel lived in Jon Small's house when he was in his 20s.
"Billy and I spent a lot of time together," Weber said of their romance, which began and developed slowly.
When the betrayal came to light, Joel felt “extremely guilty” and “like a family destroyer,” especially because the couple “had a child.” The musician felt he “deserved it” when Small, shocked by the betrayal, “punched him in the nose.”
Joel was also "very bored" and "without a place to live," so he started "sleeping in the laundry room."
He stated, among other things:
"I was depressed, I think to the point of madness. I thought, 'That's it. I don't want to live anymore.' I was in so much pain and I thought, 'Why go on?' Every day seemed the same. I thought, 'Tomorrow will be the same as today, and today is terrible.' So I thought, 'I'm going to end it all.'"
When his sister, Judy Molinari, gave him sedatives to help him sleep, Joel “drank them all.” Molinari, with tears in her eyes, said:
"He was in a coma for days. I went to see him in the hospital and he was lying there, white as a sheet. I thought I had killed him."
Joel attempted to kill himself a second time – and this time it was Small who took him to the hospital.
"Even though our friendship was falling apart, Jon saved my life," the composer said with emotion.
He then willingly laid down in an observation pavilion and realized he could “use all those emotions to turn them into music.”
Jon Small forgave Billy Joel, who later reconnected with Weber and married her. They were together for nine years, from 1973 to 1982. The pianist went on to marry three more times, to Christie Brinkley, Katie Lee, and his current wife, Alexis Roderick.
Recently, Joel has discovered that he suffers from a rare brain disease.
As for the documentary "Billy Joel: And So It Goes," it will air this summer on HBO Max.
