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Billy Joel put an end to rumors that he’s had several DUIs in his new HBO documentary, “Billy Joel: And So It Goes.”
“You know, along with fame comes a lot of gossip, rumors. I didn’t like the tabloid kind of press,” the “Piano Man” singer shared, per People.
“For example, there’s this rumor that I have all these DUIs. That never happened, but people keep repeating the myth: ‘Oh, he’s got so many DUIs.’ I never had a DUI, so f–k you.”
Joel, 76, was involved in several car crashes, including in June 2002, when he was airlifted to a hospital.
He experienced additional accidents in January 2003 and April 2004.
In 2013, the hitmaker attempted to clear up DUI rumors, telling the New York Times Magazine that the collisions were due to “mental fog” and had “nothing to do with the booze.”
“I never had a DUI in my life. That’s another fallacy. Look at the police records,” he said. “My mind wasn’t right. I wasn’t focused.”
Joel explained he “went into a deep, deep depression” after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City.
“9/11 just knocked the wind out of me, and I don’t know even now if I’ve recovered from it,” he added.
“It really, really hurt that man could do that to man. And then there was a breakup with somebody, and it took me a while to get me back on my feet again,” Joel said.
Elsewhere in the two-part documentary, the “Uptown Girl” singer admitted he attempted suicide after cheating with the wife of his friend and fellow Attila member, Jon Small.
The musician recalled falling “in love” with Elizabeth Weber while he lived in the couple’s home.
Weber recalled their romance in the doc, claiming that Joel felt “like a homewrecker” and “very, very guilty.”
“I was just in a lot of pain,” Joel chimed in. “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.”
Joel’s sister, Judy Molinari, claimed she once gave the “Honesty” singer sleeping pills which he consumed.
“He was in a coma for days and days and days. I went to go see him in the hospital, and he was lying there white as a sheet. I thought that I’d killed him,” Molinari said.
Joel later checked into a ward and learned to turn his emotions into music.
The singer reconciled with Small and ultimately married Weber in 1973.
They split in 1982, and Joel went on to marry Christie Brinkley from 1985 to 1994, Katie Lee from 2004 to 2009 and his current wife, Alexis Roderick, in 2015.
English (US)