Christie Brinkley Opens Up About Billy Joel Divorce in Memoir: ‘I Never Wanted to End Things ’

Known for her million-dollar smile and eternal enthusiasm, Christie Brinkley, 71, has lived a life worthy of the silver screen. For almost five decades, the actress, supermodel and entrepreneur has dazzled the world—from the moment she was “discovered” in Paris to gracing hundreds of magazine covers, becoming Billy Joel’s ‘Uptown Girl’ and starring in films and on Broadway. Now, she’s finally ready to tell her own story. Brinkley’s new memoir, Uptown Girl, out today, candidly chronicles her life through early stardom, success, romantic highs—including her very first impression of Billy Joel and how their second date “was even more spectacular” than their first—to devastating lows and everything in between. Keep reading to discover the most heartfelt and heart-wrenching revelations about Brinkley and Joel’s relationship and more!

What is ‘Uptown Girl’ about?

In her bighearted new memoir, iconic supermodel and entrepreneur Christie Brinkley is sharing the story of her life—both in front of the cameras and behind. In 1974, Christie was “discovered” in Paris—a moment that skyrocketed a legendary career in modeling. Filled with candid life moments—including her father’s betrayal, her divorce from Billy Joel and stories from Hollywood sets—and more than 100 never-before-seen photos of Christie’s original artwork, Uptown Girl tells the story of a glamorous, resilient and beloved All-American icon.

Brinkley on being ‘discovered’

In April 1974, Brinkley was discovered by a photographer while standing outside a post office in Paris. “He was dressed like an artist, in a faded green U.S. Army jacket, dark-wash jeans, and a printed neck scarf,” she wrote. “Over his scarf hung a camera…‘Excuse me,’ he said with an American accent. ‘But I’ve seen you here before. I’ve been waiting for you to come back to make a call…I’m a photographer.’” Brinkley recalled calling her friend right after the encounter and quickly realizing the man was Errol Sawyer, a well-known photographer.

Brinkley’s first impression of Billy Joel

In the book, Brinkley described meeting Joel for the first time in 1983 while at a dive bar in St. Barts. “He doesn’t look very much like a rock star,” she wrote. “The man was sunburned to a crisp, his face the same color as a cranberries and unctuous with oil, which he’d undoubtedly slathered on to soothe the burn, topped by what I like to call the ‘Long Island Bubble’: a carapace of curly, shellacked hair popular in the 1980s in parts of suburban New York.” She continued to recount the serendipitous evening—which included run-ins with fellow supermodel Elle McPherson and a not-yet-discovered Whitney Houston—recalling she was swiftly enamored by Joel. “Immediately, I found Billy charming and hilarious as he cracked jokes about his ‘tan’ and made other self-deprecating remarks that were both amusing and endearing.”

A blossoming friendship or something more?

After meeting in St. Barts, Brinkley said her relationship with Joel was platonic. “At the time, I wasn’t thinking romantic thoughts about Billy—I just knew I wanted to be friends with him forever,” she wrote.  “Forever is a funny word, of course. Some people say it has no meaning, but what I know is that, more than forty years later, I am still friends with Billy, and for that, I’m forever grateful.”

In 1983, the pair continued to stay in touch through phone calls where they would check in on one another and share updates on their life. At the start of their friendship, Brinkley was nursing a broken heart after the passing of her boyfriend, Olivier Chandon de Brailles and Joel was newly divorced from his first wife, Elizabeth Weber. 

In Uptown Girl, Brinkley revealed that after saying yes to a date with Billy, the first person she called was her mother. “As soon as I said yes, I called my mom,” she wrote. “‘Is it too soon after Olivier to be dating?’ I asked, explaining how Billy and I had first met in St. Barts, when I thought we’d be friends forever,” she continued. Brinkley said her mom was always getting to the heart of the matter and gave her the best advice about Billy: “Listen, honey, you can change a man’s shoes or you can change a man’s hair, but he has to have a good heart and a good sense of humor,” she recalled of her mother’s advice. “And if he has both, he’s a keeper.”

A musical romance for the ages

Brinkley and Joel’s first date was to see Little Shop of Horrors, but she actually highlights their second date as the one that really wooed her. “Our second date was even more spectacular, when Billy took me to see the Beach Boys perform at a stadium in New Jersey,” she wrote.  “When the group opened up with ‘California Girls’ onstage, they pointed to me in the front row as they crooned, “I wish they all could be California Girls,” I couldn’t believe it: Beach Boys songs had blared out of every transistor radio on the beaches where I grew up, overheating car radios up and down the Pacific Coast Highway, and now Billy was bringing all those memories to life for me in a way I could never have imagined.”

In fact, the first time Brinkley saw Joel perform on stage wasn’t at one of his own shows—it was at this very Beach Boys concert. “When I saw his hands float across the keys in front of tens of thousands of shouting fans, then heard him cover “Help Me, Rhonda” and the classic Beatles song “Rock and Roll Music” with the Beach Boys, I felt entranced,” she wrote. “Not just by his talent, the scope of which I already knew from listening to The Stranger, but also by his stage presence, which was both confident and extraordinary, with a kind of charisma and charm I had never seen.”

Joel often referred to Brinkley as his muse, writing her little notes and poems that would later become lyrics to songs. “As our relationship grew and deepened, Billy kept giving me lyrics, which wove music into our lives and our lives into his music in an incredibly beautiful and synergistic way,” she wrote. “One month later, he handed me another sheet of simple notebook paper with a few more verses, all of which finally became the song “The Longest Time,” which he released in August 1983 as part of his new album, An Innocent Man.”

Brinkley and Joel got married in 1985 on the New York Harbor and their daughter, Alexa Ray Joel was born that same year. 

Was Brinkley really Joel’s ‘Uptown Girl’?

In short, yes! In her memoir, Brinkley remembered a conversation about the inspiration behind the song and how, ultimately, it was about her. According to Brinkley, Joel said: “‘I just realized something about this song that I started writing a while ago about someone I was imagining,” he said hurriedly, his thoughts far ahead of his words, as he gave me a look of surprise and delight,” she shared. “And now I’m looking at you here, and I don’t have to imagine her anymore—you’re right here in front of me, you’re my real uptown girl.” Joel’s song Uptown Girl would go on to become a major hit and Brinkley famously starred in the MTV music video alongside Joel. 

Brinkley finally opens up about the divorce

After nine years of marriage, Brinkley and Joel called it quits in 1994—though Brinkley tried to make it work for a while. “To be clear, I never wanted to end things with Billy. I read every self-help book I could find while, together, we went to see a string of psychiatrists, psychologists, and other medical doctors,” she wrote. 

“I did everything for our marriage, constantly working to make myself, our home, and everything around us into whatever he could possibly want or hope for. I continually told him how much I loved him, making sure he always felt adored and appreciated, because he was. But his drinking was bigger than the both of us—booze was the other woman, and it was beginning to seem that he preferred to be with ‘her’ rather than with me.”

In a recent interview, Brinkley told Page Six she thinks “if there wasn’t that issue…I do think we were probably really soulmates. It was an amazing time in my life.”

Today, the two still remain close friends. Joel even serenaded Brinkley recently at one of his sold-out shows in Madison Square Garden with the one and only “Uptown Girl.”

To read Brinkley’s whole story, pick up your copy of Uptown Girl out today!