Billy Joel is putting an end to unsubstantiated DUI rumors.
The five-time Grammy winner, 76, addressed some of the “gossip” and “rumors” that come along with fame in his new two-part HBO documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes — specifically, the longstanding rumor that he was charged with DUIs during a brief period away from the spotlight.
“I didn’t like the tabloid kind of press. For example, there’s this rumor that I have all these DUIs,” Joel said in the documentary. “That never happened.”
“But people keep repeating the myth. ‘Oh, he’s got so many DUIs.’ I never had a DUI. So f— you,” he added. “The press can be mean. So having that much attention paid to you is not easy.”
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Billy Joel performs at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Dec. 10, 2022
In the documentary, which is now streaming, Joel detailed his experience stepping out of the spotlight in the mid-2000s.
“At that time in his life, he was drinking a lot and over the years, he had sort of a series of calamities,” The New Yorker staff writer Nick Paumgarten said in the documentary. “He was making a mess of it in public, and when that happens, the public chorus can turn on you.”
Around that time, the “Piano Man” singer was indeed involved in a series of car accidents. He crashed a 1999 Mercedes-Benz in June 2002, drove his 2002 Mercedes-Benz into a tree in Sag Harbor in January 2003 before being treated overnight for head injuries, and later lost control of his 1967 Citroen in Bayville in April 2004 and crashed into an unoccupied house. That final accident left him with a cut to his finger and minor damage to the car, per the doc.
In an interview with The New York Times Magazine in 2013, Joel clarified that his accidents had “nothing to do with the booze” and more to do with a “mental fog.”
“I never had a DUI in my life. That’s another fallacy. Look at the police records,” he said. “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.”
As Joel told PEOPLE in this week’s cover story, the new project following his life doesn’t just dispel some rumors, it also depicts “some of the stupid stuff I did, that’s painful to talk about.” Directed by Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin, And So it Goes offers insight into how Joel overcame substance abuse, mental health struggles and more on his journey toward happiness with his wife, Alexisand his three daughters.
“My goal was to get it over with,” Joel said of his initial involvement in the film. “When I do interviews, people just ask you about yourself and you get a little self-conscious about it eventually. It’s almost embarrassing. When you’re talking about your personal life detached from the material… I suppose there’s a little bit of wariness involved.”
The film features insight from Joel’s sister Judy, daughter Alexa Ray, 39, and longtime friends including lighting designer Steve Cohen and booking agent Dennis Arfa. As Cohen told PEOPLE, there’s “a work ethic through line in Billy’s life.”
“You make mistakes. He always said to me, ‘You show up. You do the best you can. You admit when you’re wrong and you let other people tell you how good you are. You don’t tell yourself how good you are,'” Cohen recalled.
“I hope fans walk away realizing how f—ing human he is, and I hope they come back listening to these songs again with a deeper affection,” Cohen added. “I hope that you walk away from this thing going, ‘I now justify my fandom. I know why this guy is as good and why I respond to it, because that’s the kind of guy I can relate to his life. I can relate to those emotions.'”
Read the original article on People
