Billy Joel and Elizabeth Weberโs love story didnโt have a fairy tale start or even a happy ending.
But in between the beginning and the end, the couple got married, forged a powerful partnership that catapulted his career and, according to Weber, created something that was โgreater than the sum of the parts.โ
And thatโs just a small part of what the โPiano Manโsโ ex-wife had to say about him and their union in the first installment of HBOโs two-part documentary, โBilly Joel: And So It Goes.โ
Weber and Joel first met in the late 1960s, as he was best friends and bandmates with Jon Small, Weberโs then-husband. In 1969, for the sake of musical convenience and financial benefit, Joel moved in with the couple and their young son, Sean.
Soon Joel and Weber found themselves falling for each other.
โWhen you just find someone youโre comfortable with, who can finish your sentences and knows what youโre thinking without saying anything, sometimes itโs a slow build,โ Weber explained in the documentary.
But things changed quickly after they started an affair. Joel confessed his betrayal to Small, and for a time, Weber left both men.
In her absence, a broken-hearted and deeply depressed Joel penned a number of songs about her, and he sent her the recordings.
โHearing those songs was overwhelming,โ she recalled. โIt was stunning that he could accomplish something like that. And so, it had an impact.โ
The former lovers got back together, and Weber became the supportive partner Joel had long lacked. Suddenly he had a fire to launch his career in earnest, with her help.
In 1973, pair were married in a courthouse ceremony. And her efforts to help bring his music to the masses led her to take on the role of his manager, too. In fact, she created an entire management group to ensure his success.
Weber took on record company execs, producers and venues to make sure he made it, and it worked. But she wasn’t always rewarded for the results.
“The man is strong and assertive, itโs all good,” she noted in the documentary. “But if youโre a woman who makes a decision that people donโt like, the gendered language comes out.”
And she heard plenty of it.
In the documentary, even Joel admitted, “it must have been hard being married to me.”
Ultimately, Weber agreed.
“Everyone thinks that fame is something special, and there was a lot of nice things about the life we had, but the sense of humor of the gods is fantastic,” Weber said in the wake of Joel’s career trajectory. “Because you get this, and this is what you pay for it.”
So as Joelโs musical success soared, it created a strain on both his professional and personal relationship with Weber. To counter that, Weber dropped out as his manager. But Joelโs lifestyle of an indulgent rocker pushed her even further away.
Eventually, even joining the superstar performer on tour became out of the question. Weber couldnโt stand to see what alcohol and drugs was doing to Joel and his band. And as a mother, she couldnโt risk continuing to expose her son to it.
The only time she and Joel spent together after that was when he wasnโt on the road โ and even when he wasnโt touring, he hit the road in another way. He paired his love of booze with a new passion for motorcycling, a move that frightened Weber.
He even wrote a song about her concern after one close call โ โYou May Be Right.โ
In it, he sang, โEven rode my motorcycle in the rain / And you told me not to drive / But I made it home alive / So you said that only proves that Iโm insane.โ
But that 1981 track, from his โGlass Housesโ album, wasnโt the end of the subject.
Months after the songโs release, Joel was in a serious motorcycle accident that left him hospitalized with multiple injuries. For him, it was a scary ordeal. For Weber, it was the final straw.
โI would have stayed,โ she said, thinking back on that time and their growing emotional distance. โI would have been able, like so many women before, to make that accommodation for someone you love. But there was no way that I could stand by and watch him kill himself. I just didnโt have that in me.โ
Today, Weber still cares for the man she divorced in 1982.
โI still have room in my heart,โ she said. โI love Bill. I always will.โ
Joel went on to marry three more times and is now married to Alexis Roderick Joel.
