NEED TO KNOW
- Alexa Ray Joel opened as much as ipromiseyoumedia about her response to dad Billy Joel’s new HBO documentary
- The musician mentioned that it was “actually stunning” for her to observe — and it made her shed some tears
- Half two of Billy Joel: And So It Goes dropped on July 25
To Alexa Ray Joel, her dad and mom made “the final word dream couple.”
Talking with ipromiseyoumedia concerning the launch of Billy Joel’s two-part HBO documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes, the singer — who’s the daughter of Joel and Christie Brinkley — says it was “shifting, past perception” watching it again.
“There was folks messaging me saying that they have been in tears. So not to mention, for me, reliving my childhood years,” Alexa, 39, who’s featured within the documentary, says.
“I believe the world was very enchanted by my dad and mom once they have been collectively. They have been like the final word dream couple,” she continues.
Along with her dad and mom, Alexa says that although they could not be extra reverse — she liked seeing “how a lot they complement one another of their variations.”
“Opposites entice. My mother being this stunning mannequin, and extrovert, and really sunny and outgoing. My dad is certainly extra of an introvert, which I might say, I am extra introverted too,” she says.
Alexa provides, “It was actually, actually stunning and emotional for me to observe. I cried, my mother cried.”
Within the documentary, the “Vienna” singer, 76, and Brinkley, 71 — who met in 1983 and have been collectively for 11 years — recall the early days of their relationship.
“Right here I’m courting this stunning supermodel and… me? I’m from Hicksville. What am I doing along with her? What’s she doing with me? However that was a really productive time for me,” Joel mentioned within the movie. “I wrote loads of songs for her. She was a muse.”
He continued, “It was like being an adolescent once more. Experiencing those self same feelings that I had after I was first discovering romance and love.”
Although their first few years collectively have been “a lot enjoyable,” their relationship went south by 1989. As seen in his single “I Go to Extremes,” Brinkley mentioned within the doc that the music displays Joel “boomeranging between being a household man and tortured artist” who’d typically disappear in the midst of the night time to drink amid his “unraveling” life.
The exes divorced in 1994 after 9 years of marriage however remained nice associates and co-parents. In August 2024, Joel serenaded Brinkley with “Uptown Lady” throughout a live performance at New York Metropolis’s Madison Sq. Backyard.
The “New York State of Thoughts” singer has been fortunately married to spouse Alexis since 2015. The couple share daughters Della, 10 this month, and Remy, 7 — and in a current cowl story Joel advised ipromiseyoumedia he is “actually having fun with this time in my life.”
Within the documentary, the “We Did not Begin the Fireplace” singer mirrored on the primary time he met Alexis — and mentioned she wasn’t impressed by “the entire Billy Joel factor.”
“Once you meet somebody who captures your creativeness, it renews, it revitalizes,” he mentioned within the movie. “I keep in mind the primary time I met Alexis, we went to my home, and I wished to play the piano for her. It’s a type of communication for me.”
Joel mentioned he drew from a well-known scene within the Marilyn Monroe movie The Seven-12 months Itch, the place the character making an attempt to woo Monroe’s character performs a music by the Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff.
“I’m enjoying that and he or she’s utterly unimpressed with it, completely. She couldn’t care much less what I’m enjoying and I’m pondering, ‘Oh okay, this isn’t working,’” Joel mentioned. “She was very unimpressed with the entire Billy Joel factor, which galvanized me. As a result of I assumed, ‘OK, perhaps she’s simply right here as a result of she likes me, not the Billy Joel man.’”
Billy Joel: And So It Goes, which displays on the singer’s life, profession and music, is streaming on HBO Max.
