Particle.news

Download on the App Store

Billy Joel Opens Up About Early Suicide Attempts After Affair With Bandmate’s Wife

The Tribeca debut of “Billy Joel: And So It Goes” reveals how dark moments fueled his music ahead of its HBO release this summer.

Image
Image
Image
Image

Overview

  • The film discloses how Joel’s romance with Elizabeth Weber led to the end of his band Attila and a rift with close friend and bandmate Jon Small.
  • Facing guilt and despair, he made two suicide attempts in his early 20s—one that resulted in a coma after overdosing on sleeping pills and another via furniture polish ingestion.
  • Jon Small rushed him to the hospital after the second attempt and his sister Judy Molinari supplied the pills that triggered the first intervention; Joel later entered an observation ward.
  • He credits that psychiatric stay with teaching him to channel intense emotions into his songwriting, shaping early classics such as “She’s Got a Way.”
  • Joel missed the Tribeca premiere due to a recent brain disorder diagnosis; the documentary ‘Billy Joel: And So It Goes’ is set to stream on HBO this summer.