#SHOWBIZ: Documentary reveals Billy Joel attempted suicide twice in the past
The new film, which premiered at the Tribeca Festival in New York City last week, revisits some of the singer's struggles, including two suicide attempts that followed an affair with his bandmate's wife, People magazine reports.
The first part of the documentary recounts how Joel was in the band Attila with his best friend, Jon Small. Joel eventually moved in with Small, his wife, Elizabeth Weber, and their son.
Weber reportedly states in the film that there was a "slow burn" between her and Joel.
Joel admitted he "felt very, very guilty" about their subsequent affair.
It ended in a fight, and the band split after he confessed to Small that he was in love with Weber.
"They had a child. I felt like a homewrecker," Joel told the filmmakers.
"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."
After Weber left, Joel said he spiralled into drinking, became homeless, and was "depressed, I think to the point of almost being psychotic."
He recalled thinking, "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."
His sister, Judy Molinari, then a medical assistant, gave him sleeping pills, all of which Joel took.
He ended up in the hospital in a coma for days.
"I went to go see him in the hospital, and he was lying there white as a sheet," she said in the film. "I thought that I'd killed him."
During his second suicide attempt, Joel said he drank a bottle of cleaning fluid.
Ironically, it was Small who took him to the hospital. "Even though our friendship was blowing up, Jon saved my life," Joel said.
He sought help, which Joel credits with helping him channel his emotions into the music that brought him success.
Years later, Joel and Weber reconnected and were married from 1973 to 1982.
She continues to admire him and has been supportive as the superstar musician recently cancelled tour dates to seek treatment for normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), a condition affecting the brain.
"He's worked so hard all of his life," she told E! News at the premiere.
"I've never known anybody who worked harder than he did in all those years we were together and working together."
'Billy Joel: And So It Goes' is set to air on HBO next month.
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