Billy Joel attempted suicide, overdosed and fell into coma after secret affair with friend's wife: Piano Man's early life unleashed in new doc

Indian Express

06-06-2025

Billy Joel: And So It Goes, the documentary revolving around the early life and rise of the Piano Man, premiered at the Tribeca Festival's opening night. Joel, who was recently diagnosed with a brain disorder, forcing him to hit pause on events and promotional activities, remained absent from the night. However, in the new HBO documentary, the legendary singer opens up about the darkest chapter of his life, one that no one had heard about until now. Before the fame, before the sold-out concerts, Joel was a guy in his 20s who played in a band called Attila with his best friend, Jon Small. They lived together under one roof until one incident completely changed their lives forever.
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In the first half of the documentary, Joel spoke about how he fell in love with Elizabeth, his best friend's wife. Elizabeth herself admitted in the doc that it wasn't instant, but a slow build. At the time, she and Small also had a kid together. But one day, once Jon sensed something was off, Billy told him the truth straight-up: 'I'm in love with your wife.' Joel admitted, 'I felt very, very guilty about it. They had a child. I felt like a homewrecker.' He further added, '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.'
The incident left a mark on Joel's life. He started drinking, was booted from the house, had nowhere to go, and kept spending nights in a laundromat. 'So I figured, 'That's it. I don't want to live anymore.' 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, and today sucks. So, I just thought I'd end it all,' he said.
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Joel's sister, Judy Molinari, was a medical assistant at the time and often used to send him sleeping pills to help him deal with sleepless nights. But the musician revealed he tried taking them all at once and fell into a coma for several days. Judy said she thought she had killed her brother. 'I went to go see him in the hospital, and he was laying there white as a sheet. I thought that I'd killed him.' When Billy finally woke up, he realised he had been selfish, and then decided to try again. This time, he drank a bottle of lemon-scented Pledge. However, Small—the same friend he had betrayed—was the one who rushed him to the hospital. Looking back, Jon said the only reason Billy might have taken it so hard was because he loved him that much. 'Eventually, I forgave him.'
Once Joel got out, he decided to pour all that pain and guilt into his music. That led to his first solo album Cold Spring Harbor. For the unversed, Billy Joel and Elizabeth's story didn't end there. They ended up marrying in 1973 and were together until 1982. Elizabeth also took the role of his manager and took the credit for making Just the Way You Are a hit when record execs didn't believe in it. But the fame, stress, and Billy's substance use caught up with them, and she later chose to walk away.
The documentary also shed light on how, in his early days, Joel played under a fake name (Bill Martin) in LA bars because of a bad record deal. According to the New York Times, Joel's time at the Executive Room inspired Piano Man, while Elizabeth helped him as the waitress, 'practising politics.' Joel also turned down a deal with Beatles producer George Martin because Martin didn't want to use his band. He later worked with Phil Ramone and rolled out The Stranger, one of his biggest studio albums of all time.