JUST THE WAY THEY ARE

Billy Joel’s First Wife Opens Up About Their Relationship Post-Diagnosis

The “Piano Man” singer announced he had been diagnosed with a rare brain disorder.

Billy Joel’s first wife, Elizabeth Weber, has opened up about the couple’s relationship after Joel announced he had been diagnosed with a brain disorder, normal pressure hydrocephalus, and cancelled upcoming tour appearances in late May. Weber told Page Six at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere for Joel’s documentary, Billy Joel: And So It Goes, on Wednesday that she and the “Piano Man” singer are “friendly but not cordial.” “I mean, we got divorced for a reason. And, you know, I’ve been married a few times, too. And if I were close to all my exes, I wouldn’t be here tonight!” she said. Joel and Weber met in the 1960s when Weber was engaged to Joel’s Attila bandmate, Jon Small. After having an affair that left Joel suicidal, the pair got married in 1973. Joel wrote the 1977 Grammy Award-winning song “Just the Way You Are” for Weber. The couple got divorced almost a decade later in 1982. Following their divorce, Weber remained out of the public eye, noting that the negative press she received afterward never bothered her. “Well, you know, rock ‘n’ roll isn’t really good to women and the music business traditionally hasn’t been good to women,” she said. “But I have my life, I do what I do, and I can’t really be concerned about [anything else].”