Billy Joel denies he has a drinking problem: 9/11 knocked the wind out of me
The NY Times Magazine has a new extensive interview with rocker Billy Joel, 64. He comes across as blunt and straightforward, albeit a little in denial. I’m only excerpting the parts about his drinking and depression, but the entire piece is well worth reading. He talks about the fact that he hasn’t written music for public consumption in 20 years, that close friends and colleagues stole millions from him and he has no hard feelings, and that gorgeous women fall for him because he’s a rock star. Of that he says simply “I don’t mind being the beast, I want them to be good-looking, and if they don’t mind me looking like me, why should I care?”
The part of this interview that is getting the most play, and which I read over on The Huffington Post, is about how he half denies and half admits that he has a drinking problem. He also says that the terrorist attacks of 9/11 changed him and led him to the bottle, basically. Here’s some of what he said:
A.G.: Two years ago, at the last minute, you pulled out of writing your memoirs. This was a big deal — like a $3 million advance from HarperCollins. The thing was all written, right?
B.J.: It wasn’t finished. Some of it hadn’t been filled out in detail, but there was a beginning, a middle and an end. Then I saw this marketing campaign — “Divorce, Depression and Drinking.” We talked about some of those things, but that’s not the essence of the book. I realized that was going to be the nature of the campaign. They wanted more sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll, and there’s not that much in my life. What I wanted to do was have a book that set the record straight. There’s so much misinformation about me. There have been some ersatz biographies where they talk to someone I knew for five minutes or some disgruntled members of the band. And I’d be reading these books saying: “No, no, that’s not right. You know what? I should write a book.” I wasn’t interested in doing a tell-all. I’m not going to talk about people who I was involved in relationships with. I’m just not that kind of guy.
A.G.: So the publisher actually told you, “More sex.”
B.J.: Fred Schruers, my co-writer, was submitting it. They said to Fred, “We need more of the sex and the wives and the girlfriends and drinking and divorce and the depression.” I covered it all. But I didn’t go into detail about my personal life. If they want to poke Fred with red-hot needles to get him to make up salacious details, go ahead, but I’m not going to do it. I’m not a psychoanalyst. I don’t know why I drank so much. I don’t subscribe to A.A., I don’t subscribe to 12-step stuff. Sometimes I just overdid it.
A.G.: What did you drink?
B.J.: I started with Dewars White Label Scotch and then, when I really got heavy into it, it was vodka. Vodka is a hard-core alky drink. I could take it in shots or I could just mix it with something. I can’t even smell the stuff anymore. It makes me sick. But it wasn’t consistent, it would be periods of time, during a divorce or something.
A.G.: So did you quit cold turkey?
B.J.: No, I have a glass of wine once in a while, and I don’t hide it. I have a glass of wine with a meal.
A.G.: A decade ago, before you entered rehab, there was a period of two years in which you had three car accidents that involved hitting inanimate objects.
B.J.: The first accident, there was no booze involved. And I didn’t hit a tree. It’s these really dark roads back up here at night. The car went off the road and into a mud rut. I had gone through a breakup and was really broken up about it, and I decided I’m drinking too much. I should go to rehab. But people made a connection, like, “Oh, he went there because he was in a car accident from drinking.” No. The second accident was over here on the way out of town. It’s called Dead Man’s Curve, and it was black ice; that wasn’t drinking, either. The car slid and smashed into a tree. I went to rehab in ’05 because, when I was with Katie, she said, “You’re drinking way too much.” I never had a D.U.I. in my life. That’s another fallacy. Look at the police records.
A.G.: What was going on with you at the time?
B.J.: I was kind of in a mental fog, and it had nothing to do with the booze. My mind wasn’t right. I wasn’t focused. I went into a deep, deep depression after 9/11. 9/11 just knocked the wind out of me, and I don’t know even now if I’ve recovered from it. 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.
A.G.: You know they have medication for that.
B.J.: Well, I used booze as medication.
A.G.: In 2008, you accompanied your wife on “Oprah.” You looked so uncomfortable, I remember thinking it looked as if there was somebody offstage pointing a shotgun at you to keep you from running away.
B.J.: I was very uncomfortable. I was in shock. I didn’t realize behind me there were these screens of, like, auto accidents and things about drinking and divorce. I thought I was going to come talk about music. I did the show because Katie had a book coming out. She said, “Please, help me get on the show.” I said, “I don’t want to do it, I don’t want to do it, don’t make me do it, don’t make me do it.” But I said, “O.K., I’ll do it, and it’s going to suck.” Sure enough, it did. My daughter saw the show, and she cried, she thought it was so bad.
A.G.: Why? Because you looked so unhappy?
B.J.: Because she thought it was a mean line of questioning, and she knew I wasn’t happy. She could see it. This is why I didn’t want to do the show. I don’t like doing TV, especially a show like that. All those touchy-feely kind of shows like “The View” or “Oprah,” people talk about their feelings. I don’t like that.
I remember that Oprah interview with his now ex-wife, Katie Lee, because I covered it at the time. Joel just sat there like a lump on a log looking miserable. Just like now, he denied being an alcoholic and didn’t want to talk about it much. I do feel for him for suffering depression after 9/11. That day changed everything for so many people. It sounds like he’s using it as an excuse to drink, though, and that he hasn’t faced his issues.
One of the last times we covered Joel he was getting called out by Elton John, whom he toured with in 2010, for needing rehab. Joel had already been to rehab in 2005 and 2002. He did address Elton’s comments about his alcoholism during this interview, simply saying that Elton didn’t know him on a personal level.
Billy Joel is shown on 4-17-13 in the header and on 11-20-10 “at the Grand Opening of his motorcylce showroom ’20th Century Cycles’ where he will display his motorcyles to the general public.” He’s also shown at lunch in January, 2012. Credit: WENN.com and FameFlynet
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