Billy Joel sets the record straight on whether he's had multiple DUIs
In his HBO documentary 'Billy Joel: And So It Goes' the 76-year-old seeks to clear up consistent speculation that he has been arrested multiple times for driving under the influence. (HBO is owned by CNN's parent company.)
In 2002, Joel crashed a car in East Hampton, New York and less than a year later, he drove into a tree in Sag Harbor which resulted in him having to be airlifted to the hospital. Two years later he crashed into a house in Long Island.
The car accidents have been attributed to road conditions and Joel's depressive mental state, and while he has been in rehab before, the singer maintains that he has never gotten a DUI.
'You know, along with fame comes a lot of gossip, rumors. I didn't like the tabloid kind of press,' he said in the documentary. '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.''
Joel went into rehab at the Betty Ford Center in 2005 after he said he was given an 'ultimatum' by his then-wife, Katie Lee.
He discussed it in 2013 with the New York Times Magazine, but at that time he again denied ever having a DUI.
'I went to rehab in '05 because, when I was with Katie, she said, 'You're drinking way too much.' I never had a DUI in my life. That's another fallacy. Look at the police records.'
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11 hours ago
American Eagle's 'good jeans' ads with Sydney Sweeney spark a debate
NEW YORK -- U.S. fashion retailer American Eagle Outfitters wanted to make a splash with its new advertising campaign starring 27-year-old actor Sydney Sweeney. The ad blitz included 'clever, even provocative language' and was 'definitely going to push buttons,' the company's chief marketing officer told trade media outlets. It has. The question now is whether some of the public reactions the fall denim campaign produced is what American Eagle intended. Titled 'Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,' the campaign sparked a debate about race, Western beauty standards, and the backlash to 'woke' American politics and culture. Most of the negative reception focused on videos that used the word 'genes' instead of 'jeans' when discussing the blonde-haired, blue-eyed actor known for the HBO series 'Euphoria' and 'White Lotus.' Some critics saw the wordplay as a nod, either unintentional or deliberate, to eugenics, a discredited theory that held humanity could be improved through selective breeding for certain traits. Marcus Collins, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, said the criticism could have been avoided if the ads showed models of various races making the 'genes' pun. 'You can either say this was ignorance, or this was laziness, or say that this is intentional,' Collins said. 'Either one of the three aren't good.' Other commenters accused detractors of reading too much into the campaign's message. 'I love how the leftist meltdown over the Sydney Sweeney ad has only resulted in a beautiful white blonde girl with blue eyes getting 1000x the exposure for her 'good genes,'" former Fox News host Megyn Kelly wrote Tuesday on X. American Eagle didn't respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press. The ad blitz comes as the teen retailer, like many merchants, wrestles with sluggish consumer spending and higher costs from tariffs. American Eagle reported that total sales were down 5% for its February-April quarter compared to a year earlier. A day after Sweeney was announced as the company's latest celebrity collaborator, American Eagle's stock closed more than 4% up. Shares were volatile this week and trading nearly 2% down Wednesday. Like many trendy clothing brands, American Eagle has to differentiate itself from other mid-priced chains with a famous face or by saying something edgy, according to Alan Adamson, co-founder of marketing consultancy Metaforce. Adamson said the Sweeney campaign shares a lineage with Calvin Klein jeans ads from 1980 that featured a 15-year-old Brooke Shields saying, 'You want to know what comes in between me and my Calvins? Nothing.' Some TV networks declined to air the spots because of its suggestive double entendre and Shields' age. 'It's the same playbook: a very hot model saying provocative things shot in an interesting way,' Adamson said. Chief Marketing Officer Craig Brommers told industry news website Retail Brew last week that 'Sydney is the biggest get in the history of American Eagle,' and the company would promote the partnership in a way that matched. The campaign features videos of Sweeney wearing slouchy jeans in various settings. She will appear on 3-D billboards in Times Square and elsewhere, speaking to users on Snapchat and Instagram, and in an AI-enabled try-on feature. American Eagle also plans to launch a limited edition Sydney jean to raise awareness of domestic violence, with sales proceeds going to a nonprofit crisis counseling service. In a news release, the company noted 'Sweeney's girl next door charm and main character energy – paired with her ability to not take herself too seriously – is the hallmark of this bold, playful campaign.' In one video, Sweeney walks toward an American Eagle billboard of her and the tagline 'Sydney Sweeney has great genes.' She crosses out 'genes' and replaces it with 'jeans.' But what critics found the most troubling was a teaser video in which Sweeney says, 'Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My jeans are blue.' The video appeared on American Eagle's Facebook page and other social media channels but is not part of the campaign. While remarking that someone has good genes is sometimes used as a compliment, the phrase also has sinister connotations. Eugenics gained popularity in early 20th century America, and Nazi Germany embraced it to carry out Adolf Hitler's plan for an Aryan master race. Civil rights activists have noted signs of eugenics regaining a foothold through the far right's promotion of the 'great replacement theory,' a racist ideology that alleges a conspiracy to diminish the influence of white people. Shalini Shankar, a cultural and linguistic anthropologist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, said she had problems with American Eagle's 'genes' versus 'jeans' because it exacerbates a limited concept of beauty. 'American Eagle, I guess, wants to rebrand itself for a particular kind of white privileged American,' Shankar said. 'And that is the kind of aspirational image they want to circulate for people who want to wear their denim.' Many critics compared the American Eagle ad to a misstep by Pepsi in 2017, when it released a TV ad that showed model Kendall Jenner offer a can of soda to a police officer while ostensibly stepping away from a photo shoot to join a crowd of protesters. Viewers mocked the spot for appearing to trivialize protests of police killings of Black people. Pepsi apologized and pulled the ad. The demonstrations that followed the 2020 killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis pushed many U.S. companies to make their advertising better reflect consumers of all races. Some marketers say they've observed another shift since President Donald Trump returned to office and moved to abolish all federal DEI programs and policies. Jazmin Burrell, founder of brand consulting agency Lizzie Della Creative Strategies, said she's noticed while shopping with her cousin more ads and signs that prominently feature white models. 'I can see us going back to a world where diversity is not really the standard expectation in advertising,' Burrell said. American Eagle has been praised for diverse marketing in the past, including creating a denim hijab in 2017 and offering its Aerie lingerie brand in a wide range of sizes. A year ago, the company released a limited edition denim collection with tennis star Coco Gauff. The retailer has an ongoing diversity, equity and inclusion program that is primarily geared toward employees. Two days before announcing the Sweeney campaign, American Eagle named the latest recipients of its scholarship award for employees who are driving anti-racism, equality and social justice initiatives. Marketing experts offer mixed opinions on whether the attention surrounding 'good jeans' will be good for business. 'They were probably thinking that this is going to be their moment," Myles Worthington, the founder and CEO of marketing and creative agency WORTHI. "But this is doing the opposite and deeply distorting their brand." Melissa Murphy, a marketing professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, said she liked certain parts of the campaign but hoped it would be expanded to showcase people besides Sweeney for the 'sake of the brand.' Other experts say the buzz is good even if it's not uniformly positive.
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11 hours ago
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Billy Joel Says Third Divorce Made Him Feel Like a '3-Time Loser' Who Feared 'Dying Alone' Before He Met Wife Alexis
The singer opened up about his life both on and off the stage in the two-part documentary 'Billy Joel: And So It Goes'NEED TO KNOW Billy Joel reflected on his third divorce and eventual marriage to his current wife, Alexis Roderick, in the two-part documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes He met Roderick in 2009 and wed six years later. They share two daughters Both parts of Billy Joel: And So It Goes are available to stream on HBO MaxBilly Joel is looking back at his life both on and off the stage. In the two-part documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes, the "Big Shot" singer reflected on getting divorced from his third wife Katie Lee and how meeting his current wife Alexis Roderick Joel changed his perspective. "I was going through another divorce. Three times. A three-time loser. And the fear of being alone again, dying alone, not having that person in my life anymore… and getting old," Joel, 76, said in the film. "So I was drinking again, just to kind of ease that pain. So yeah, it was kind of a lost time." Joel and Lee, 43, met in 2002 when they bumped into each other at the Peninsula Hotel in New York City. They wed in 2004. He was previously married to Elizabeth Weber from 1973 until 1982 and Christie Brinkley from 1985 to 1994. They share daughter Alexa Ray Joel. During his marriage to Lee, Joel struggled with alcohol abuse, and Lee strongly encourgaged him to go to rehab. "She kind of gave me an ultimatum. 'Either you do something about your drinking or this isn't gonna work out,'" Joel recalled in the documentary. "At that point, yeah, the relationship wasn't doing well. She became very career-oriented and she wanted to be in the city, she wanted to socialize," he added. In the film, Joel also mentioned a "theory" that Lee had been "having an affair with some guy." "That's a bunch of bulls---," he clarified. "We just drifted apart from each other." Lee and Joel ultimately divorced in 2009. Lee believed there was "always a little bit of resentment" for pushing Joel to go to the Betty Ford Center, calling it "hard on our relationship." She explained in the film, "And in a lot of ways it was hard to recover from that. I don't think either one of us wanted it to not work out, but it just became obvious that it wasn't working. "And I remember one night, we had dinner and I said, 'Bill, I'm unhappy.' And he said, 'Do you want to get a divorce?' And I said, 'Yeah.' And he said 'OK.' And that was it," added Lee. Joel met his current wife, Alexis, 43, in 2009 when he introduced himself to her at a restaurant in Huntington, N.Y. They started dating shortly after their encounter. "When you meet someone who captures your imagination, it renews, it revitalizes.... I don't know if I was open to starting a new relationship. I thought that wasn't gonna be possible. How am I gonna be able to do that again? I can't go through that again," he said in the documentary. "But all of a sudden, something happened. Something popped. And I was open to it." Alexis was an executive at Morgan Stanley when she and the "Vienna" singer met. "She was in charge of a whole section of a financial company and she was successful at it. And I wasn't really thinking about working anymore. So I was home a lot. And when she got home, there I was cooking and serving dinner," he said in the film. Joel married Alexis in 2015, surprising the 40 guests at their July 4 party with wedding vows. They share daughters Della ,9, and Remy, 7. Joel acknowledged in the documentary that he had made "a lot of mistakes" in his life, but had grown and learned from them. "And even after everything I've gone through, I still believe in love, I still believe in relationships. And it's always a big factor in my life. I probably am a romantic at heart." After sharing his diagnosis of normal pressure hydrocephalus, Alexis thanked fans for their "love and support" on Instagram. "We are so grateful for the wonderful care and swift diagnosis we received. Bill is beloved by so many, and to us, he is a father and husband who is at the center of our world." "We are hopeful for his recovery," she added. "We look forward to seeing you all in the future." In a recent PEOPLE cover story, Joel said that he's "really enjoying this time in my life" as a husband and father of three. Both parts of Billy Joel: And So It Goes are available to stream on HBO Max. Read the original article on People
12 hours ago
American Eagle's 'good jeans' ads with Sydney Sweeney spark debate on race, beauty
NEW YORK -- U.S. fashion retailer American Eagle Outfitters wanted to make a splash with its new advertising campaign starring 27-year-old actor Sydney Sweeney. The ad blitz included 'clever, even provocative language' and was 'definitely going to push buttons,' the company's chief marketing officer told trade media outlets. It has. The question now is whether some of the public reactions the fall denim campaign produced is what American Eagle intended. Titled 'Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,' the campaign sparked a debate about race, Western beauty standards, and the backlash to 'woke' American politics and culture. Most of the negative reception focused on videos that used the word 'genes' instead of 'jeans' when discussing the blonde-haired, blue-eyed actor known for the HBO series 'Euphoria' and 'White Lotus.' Some critics saw the wordplay as a nod, either unintentional or deliberate, to eugenics, a discredited theory that held humanity could be improved through selective breeding for certain traits. Marcus Collins, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, said the criticism could have been avoided if the ads showed models of various races making the 'genes' pun. 'You can either say this was ignorance, or this was laziness, or say that this is intentional,' Collins said. 'Either one of the three aren't good.' Other commenters accused detractors of reading too much into the campaign's message. 'I love how the leftist meltdown over the Sydney Sweeney ad has only resulted in a beautiful white blonde girl with blue eyes getting 1000x the exposure for her 'good genes,'" former Fox News host Megyn Kelly wrote Tuesday on X. American Eagle didn't respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press. The ad blitz comes as the teen retailer, like many merchants, wrestles with sluggish consumer spending and higher costs from tariffs. American Eagle reported that total sales were down 5% for its February-April quarter compared to a year earlier. A day after Sweeney was announced as the company's latest celebrity collaborator, American Eagle's stock closed more than 4% up. Shares were volatile this week and trading nearly 2% down Wednesday. Like many trendy clothing brands, American Eagle has to differentiate itself from other mid-priced chains with a famous face or by saying something edgy, according to Alan Adamson, co-founder of marketing consultancy Metaforce. Adamson said the Sweeney campaign shares a lineage with Calvin Klein jeans ads from 1980 that featured a 15-year-old Brooke Shields saying, 'You want to know what comes in between me and my Calvins? Nothing.' Some TV networks declined to air the spots because of its suggestive double entendre and Shields' age. 'It's the same playbook: a very hot model saying provocative things shot in an interesting way,' Adamson said. Chief Marketing Officer Craig Brommers told industry news website Retail Brew last week that 'Sydney is the biggest get in the history of American Eagle,' and the company would promote the partnership in a way that matched. The campaign features videos of Sweeney wearing slouchy jeans in various settings. She will appear on 3-D billboards in Times Square and elsewhere, speaking to users on Snapchat and Instagram, and in an AI-enabled try-on feature. American Eagle also plans to launch a limited edition Sydney jean to raise awareness of domestic violence, with sales proceeds going to a nonprofit crisis counseling service. In a news release, the company noted 'Sweeney's girl next door charm and main character energy – paired with her ability to not take herself too seriously – is the hallmark of this bold, playful campaign.' In one video, Sweeney walks toward an American Eagle billboard of her and the tagline 'Sydney Sweeney has great genes.' She crosses out 'genes' and replaces it with 'jeans.' But what critics found the most troubling was a teaser video in which Sweeney says, 'Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My jeans are blue.' The video appeared on American Eagle's Facebook page and other social media channels but is not part of the campaign. While remarking that someone has good genes is sometimes used as a compliment, the phrase also has sinister connotations. Eugenics gained popularity in early 20th century America, and Nazi Germany embraced it to carry out Adolf Hitler's plan for an Aryan master race. Civil rights activists have noted signs of eugenics regaining a foothold through the far right's promotion of the 'great replacement theory,' a racist ideology that alleges a conspiracy to diminish the influence of white people. Shalini Shankar, a cultural and linguistic anthropologist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, said she had problems with American Eagle's 'genes' versus 'jeans' because it exacerbates a limited concept of beauty. 'American Eagle, I guess, wants to rebrand itself for a particular kind of white privileged American,' Shankar said. 'And that is the kind of aspirational image they want to circulate for people who want to wear their denim.' Many critics compared the American Eagle ad to a misstep by Pepsi in 2017, when it released a TV ad that showed model Kendall Jenner offer a can of soda to a police officer while ostensibly stepping away from a photo shoot to join a crowd of protesters. Viewers mocked the spot for appearing to trivialize protests of police killings of Black people. Pepsi apologized and pulled the ad. The demonstrations that followed the 2020 killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis pushed many U.S. companies to make their advertising better reflect consumers of all races. Some marketers say they've observed another shift since President Donald Trump returned to office and moved to abolish all federal DEI programs and policies. Jazmin Burrell, founder of brand consulting agency Lizzie Della Creative Strategies, said she's noticed while shopping with her cousin more ads and signs that prominently feature white models. 'I can see us going back to a world where diversity is not really the standard expectation in advertising,' Burrell said. American Eagle has been praised for diverse marketing in the past, including creating a denim hijab in 2017 and offering its Aerie lingerie brand in a wide range of sizes. A year ago, the company released a limited edition denim collection with tennis star Coco Gauff. The retailer has an ongoing diversity, equity and inclusion program that is primarily geared toward employees. Two days before announcing the Sweeney campaign, American Eagle named the latest recipients of its scholarship award for employees who are driving anti-racism, equality and social justice initiatives. Marketing experts offer mixed opinions on whether the attention surrounding 'good jeans' will be good for business. 'They were probably thinking that this is going to be their moment," Myles Worthington, the founder and CEO of marketing and creative agency WORTHI. "But this is doing the opposite and deeply distorting their brand." Melissa Murphy, a marketing professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, said she liked certain parts of the campaign but hoped it would be expanded to showcase people besides Sweeney for the 'sake of the brand.' Other experts say the buzz is good even if it's not uniformly positive.
