Everything to Know About Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley's Relationship — From Their Divorce to Their Current Relationship and More (2025)

Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley's paths crossed when they met for the first time while vacationing in St. Barts in early 1983.

"I recognized her immediately," Joel said of their meeting in an interview with Rolling Stone. "She was more beautiful than she was in her pictures — [I thought], 'Oh, wow, that's Christie Brinkley. I wonder if she knows who I am.' So I did what I call an album cover — I tried to look like me on an album cover. I gave it every angle I could. She didn't recognize me from a hole in the wall."

To capture Brinkley's heart, Joel used his music as "the key to the introduction." The model eventually starred in his music video for "Uptown Girl," a song he began writing while he was dating Elle Macpherson.

The "Piano Man" singer and the model then began seeing each other romantically. They tied the knot on a yacht in New York Harbor on March 23, 1985, and bought a home on Long Island afterward.

"When you start to get famous, you need a backyard, a place where you can get away from it all," Brinkley opened up in a 1989 interview with Sports Illustrated. "I told Joe one day that the second-worst thing I could think of would be to be famous and poor because then you couldn't escape to some island."

On December 29, 1985, Christie and Billy welcomed their only child, Alexa Ray Joel.

The former Sports Illustrated model is also a mother to Jack Paris Brinkley-Cook and Sailor Brinkley-Cook. Meanwhile, Billy shares daughters Della Rose Joel and Remy Anne Joel with his current wife, Alexis Roderick.

After nine years of marriage, Billy and Christie called it quits in April 1994. Their separation was plagued by rumors, with reports claiming they parted ways due to many factors, such as the singer's packed touring schedule and Christie's desire to move to the West Coast.

In response to the buzz, Christie said in an interview, "Just because people can express themselves through their art doesn't mean they are great communicators in person."

Billy and Christie finalized their divorce in August 1994.

In a 2014 interview with The New Yorker, the mom-of-three spoke candidly about their failed marriage.

"I've always adored him. I just couldn't live with him anymore," she said.

In the years after their divorce, Billy and Christie have continuously supported each other's personal lives and careers.

In April 2024, the 71-year-old National Lampoon's Vacation star watched one of Billy's Madison Square Garden concerts, during which he serenaded her by performing "Uptown Girl."

Billy and Christie also invited each other to their respective weddings to Katie Lee and Peter Cook.

Ahead of the release of her memoir Uptown Girl on April 29, Christie dropped more details about their love story and how she fell in love with Billy.

"When I heard him sing on stage, I found myself undeniably attached to this physically hot and charismatic man," she told People. "We called each other Bada Bing and Bada Boom. Because we were really like teenagers falling in love. We were suddenly fumbling and stuttering and dropping things."