Music legend Billy Joel has opened up about his early 2010s rift with fellow singing icon Elton John, sparked by comments made about the “Piano Man” singer’s rehab stints.
Joel, who in May canceled all his upcoming tour dates after he was diagnosed with a rare brain disorder, addressed the “hurtful” years-old comments in the second part of his HBO documentary, Billy Joel: And So It Goes, released Friday.
“Elton had made a comment that he thought I needed real rehab,” Joel, 76, said in the film. “He chalked it up to, ‘Oh, he’s a drunk.’ And that really hurt me.”
In a 2011 interview with Rolling Stone, the British “Rocket Man” singer-songwriter, 78, criticized Joel’s past attempts to quit drinking, describing his rehab stays as “light.”
“When I went to rehab, I had to clean the floors,” John said a the time. “He goes to rehab where they have TVs. I love you, Billy, and this is tough love. Billy, you have your demons and you’re not going to get rid of them at rehab light. You’ve got to be serious. People adore you, they love you and respect you. You should be able to do something better than what you’re doing now.”
Reflecting on his initial reaction to John’s comments in the documentary, Joel remembered thinking: “Wait a minute. Don’t you know me better than that?”
“And there was bad blood for a little while,” he admitted. “There was a dovetailing of things that happened during that time.”
He recalled feeling “clobbered” by John’s remarks, saying that was “rock bottom” for him.
“I was disillusioned with what I thought it was all supposed to mean,” Joel said. “It was like all the signs were pointing to me: Enough. And I wrote this letter to the band. ‘I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m gonna stop.
Joel, who is now two years sober, first checked into rehab in 2002 at Connecticut’s Silver Hill Hospital. He entered rehab a second time in 2005 at New York City’s Betty Ford Center at the insistence of his then-wife, cookbook author Katie Lee, who issued him an “ultimatum.”
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Lee was Joel’s third wife, with whom he was married from 2004 to 2009. He was married to his first wife, Elizabeth Weber, from 1973 to 1982, followed by his second marriage to model Christie Brinkley from 1985 to 1994. He and Brinkley share daughter Alexa, 38. Joel is married to Alexis Roderick, his fourth wife, with whom he shares his two youngest daughters: Della, nine, and Remy, seven.
Parts one and two of Billy Joel: And So It Goes are available to stream on HBO Max.
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