Billy Joel delved into his past, sharing how a hidden affair triggered two suicide attempts and ultimately, a coma.
TRIGGER WARNING: This article covers sensitive topics such as attempted suicide; read at your own risk.
Did Billy Joel Really Have an Affair?
On Wednesday, June 4, Joel's new documentary, titled Billy Joel: And So It Goes, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. The first part of the documentary revealed that he had gone through two suicide attempts.
Before the Vienna singer took the world by storm, in his early 20s, he was in a band called Attila with his best friend Jon Small. At the time, he moved in with his friend and his friend's wife, Elizabeth Weber, and their son.
"Bill and I spent a lot of time together," Elizabeth said in the documentary, claiming it was a 'slow build' between them. It was only a matter of time before Small picked up on the signs, leading Joel to unravel his truth: "I'm in love with your wife."
"I felt very, very guilty about it. They had a child. I felt like a homewrecker," Joel said his piece. "I was just in love with a woman, and I got punched in the nose, which I deserved. Jon was very upset. I was very upset."
Thanks to the fight, the band Attila came to an end, and so did their friendship. Joel started drinking then, marking the beginning of the star going into a spiral.
Who Saved Billy Joel's Life From 'Ending It All'?
"I had no place to live," Joel detailed that he "slept in laundromats" and was "depressed" to the point of "almost being psychotic", which left him thinking, 'That's it. I don't want to live anymore.'
He continued, "I was just in a lot of pain and it was sort of like why hang out, tomorrow is going to be just like today is and today sucks. So, I just thought I'd end it all."
At the time, Joel's sister, Judy Molinari, who worked as a medical assistant, had to help him sleep by providing sleeping pills. That's the thing. Because of those pills, as Judy recalled, "[But] Billy decided that he was going to take all of them... he was in a coma for days and days and days."
"I went to go see him in the hospital, and he was laying there white as a sheet," out of sheer guilt for her brother, she thought she had killed him due to those pills."
Despite acknowledging he was "very selfish" for committing to it, he still did his second attempt, where he drank a bottle of "lemon Pledge", as Judy told. This time, Joel's former friend, Small, took him to the hospital himself.
"Even though our friendship was blowing up, Jon saved my life," which Joel couldn't be more grateful for.
While Small knew Joel "never said anything" to him, there was only one "practical answer" he could give on why the We Didn't Start the Fire singer took it hard: "Because he loved me that much, and that it killed him to hurt me that much. Eventually, I forgave him."
After that experience, Joel checked into an observation ward. Then, after being released in a couple of weeks, Joel turned his "life-changing moment" into his music.
Meanwhile, the documentary, Billy Joel: And So It Goes, is slated to hit HBO in July.
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