Billy Joel attempted suicide twice
Billy Joel was left in a coma after attempting suicide in his early 20s.
Billy Joel attempted suicide twice in his early 20s.
The 76-year-old singer "felt like a homewrecker" after he had an affair with Elizabeth Weber while living with her, her husband Jon Small - who Billy was in a band called Attila with - and their son and when the truth emerged, the Piano Man hitmaker embarked on a downward spiral.
In new documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes, People magazine reports Elizabeth - who later reconnected with the singer and they were married from 1973-1982 - said: "Bill and I spent a lot of time together. [It was a] slow build."
Billy confessed to Jon that he was "in love" with Elizabeth.
He added: "I felt very, very guilty about it. They had a child. I felt like a homewrecker. 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."
Their fight ended Attila and the friendship between the two men, Elizabeth left and Billy started drinking.
He reflected in the film: “I had no place to live. I was sleeping in laundromats and I was depressed I think to the point of almost being psychotic.
"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 is and today sucks. So, I just thought I’d end it all."
At the time, the Uptown Girl singer's sister, Judy Molinari, was working as a medical assistant and had passed on sleeping pills to help her brother to rest.
She tearfully said: “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. I thought that I’d killed him."
Billy noted he was "very selfish" at the time and recalled eventually waking up in hospital thinking he wanted to make another attempt on his life, but this time to do it "right".
Judy told how he drank a bottle of "lemon Pledge" and Jon took him back to hospital.
Billy reflected: “Even though our friendship was blowing up, Jon saved my life."
Jon added: "He never really said anything to me, the only practical answer I can give as to why Billy took it so hard was because he loved me that much and that it killed him to hurt me that much. Eventually I forgave him."
Following his second suicide attempt, the "lost soul" checked himself into an "observation ward" and the few weeks he spent there had a huge impact on Billy.
He said: "I got out of the observation ward and I thought to myself, you can utilise all those emotions to channel that stuff into music."
