Billy Joel has opened up about a moment in his past and revealed that ex-wife Katie Lee gave him a firm ultimatum about his drinking, forcing him to make a life-changing decision.
In the new HBO documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes, the 76-year-old American singer-songwriter and pianist talked about his drinking problems and shared that his then wife, Lee, gave him an “ultimatum” to either end their marriage or seek professional help.
Joel confessed that he went to rehabilitation in 2005 because his wife at that time pushed him.
Calling to mind that she told him, the Piano Man crooner said, “She said, ‘Either you do something about your drinking or this isn’t gonna work out.’ At that point, yeah, the relationship wasn’t doing well.”
He was then admitted to the Batty Ford Centre, which was against his will, as he quipped, “With the rehab, you don’t go for somebody else. You have to go for yourself. You have to want to do it. I didn’t want to do it.”
For the unversed, Joel and Lee first met with each other at a Manhattan establishment in 2002. They quickly got along with each other and ended up cementing their relationship by tying the knot in 2004.
It is pertinent to mention that after six years of their relationship, the couple parted ways in 2009.
