Billy Joel is opening up like never before — revealing he attempted suicide twice and fell into a coma after having an affair with his best friend’s wife.
The shocking confession comes in Billy Joel: And So It Goes, the upcoming HBO documentary about the 76-year-old music legend’s life, which premiered Wednesday at the Tribeca Festival in New York City.
Joel, who was notably absent from the event amid his ongoing health battle with a brain disorder, doesn’t hold back in the film’s first installment—revisiting one of the darkest chapters of his life.
In his early 20s, Joel was living with his Attila bandmate and best friend Jon Small, along with Small’s wife Elizabeth Weber and their young son, when he began a secret affair with Weber.
‘I felt very, very guilty about it. They had a child. I felt like a homewrecker,’ Joel explained in the documentary. ‘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.’
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Billy Joel revealed he attempted suicide twice and fell into a coma after having an affair with his best friend’s wife in his new documentary
In his early 20s, Joel was living with his Attila bandmate and best friend Jon Small, along with Small’s wife Elizabeth Weber and their young son, when he began a secret affair with Weber; (Joel and Weber in 1979)
The fallout ended Attila, shattered Joel’s friendship with Small, and left the future Piano Man broken and alone after Weber took off—though they would eventually reunite.
‘I had no place to live. I was sleeping in laundromats and I was depressed, I think to the point of almost being psychotic,’ he said.
‘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’s going to be just like today, and today sucks. So I just thought I’d end it all.’
At the height of his breakdown, Billy Joel turned to his sister, Judy Molinari, who was working as a medical assistant at the time.
Hoping to help him rest, she gave him some sleeping pills—never expecting what would happen next.
‘But Billy decided that he was going to take all of them… he was in a coma for days and days and days,’ she recalled in the documentary.
‘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.’
‘I felt very, very guilty about it. They had a child. I felt like a homewrecker,’ Joel explained in the documentary. ‘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.’ (Joel and Jon Small in 1970)
‘I was very selfish,’ he said, reflecting on the mindset that led to his first suicide attempt; (Joel and Weber in 1981)
‘I was very selfish,’ he said, reflecting on the mindset that led to his first suicide attempt.
Waking up in the hospital, Joel said he didn’t feel relief or regret—instead, he became fixated on making a second attempt.
Molinari revealed that Joel’s second attempt involved drinking a bottle of Lemon Pledge furniture polish.
It was Jon Small—despite their fractured friendship—who rushed him to the hospital.
‘Even though our friendship was blowing up, Jon saved my life,’ Joel said.
Small later reflected on why the betrayal may have hit Joel so hard.
‘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.’
The two eventually rekindled their romance, marrying in 1973, with Elizabeth stepping in as his manager soon after; (pictured in 1981)
Elizabeth also inspired other hits like The Stranger, She’s Always a Woman, and even appeared as the ‘waitress practicing politics’ in Piano Man;(pictured in 1978)
However, Weber’s patience ran out amid Joel’s escalating substance abuse, and she left both as his manager and wife around the time of his 1982 motorcycle accident; (Weber on June 4, 2025)
After surviving the attempts, Joel voluntarily admitted himself into an ‘observation ward.’
He was released after a couple of weeks.
‘I got out of the observation ward and I thought to myself, you can utilize all those emotions to channel that stuff into music,’ he said.
Joel’s heartbreak and depression fueled his 1971 debut album Cold Spring Harbor, including the track She’s Got a Way, inspired by Elizabeth.
The two eventually rekindled their romance, marrying in 1973, with Elizabeth stepping in as his manager soon after.
Elizabeth also inspired other hits like The Stranger, She’s Always a Woman, and even appeared as the ‘waitress practicing politics’ in Piano Man.
However, her patience ran out amid Joel’s escalating substance abuse, and she left both as his manager and wife around the time of his 1982 motorcycle accident.
Meanwhile, Joel recently updated longtime friend Howard Stern on his health after revealing he’s been battling the brain condition called normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), which has impacted his ‘hearing, vision, and balance.’
‘He does have issues, but he said, “Yeah, you can tell people, I’m not dying,”‘ Stern said on his Sirius XM show The Howard Stern Show on Tuesday, adding, ‘He wants people to know that.’
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.
