Billy Joel's Ex-Wife Elizabeth Says He Wasn't 'Homewrecker' of 1st Marriage

Billy Joel’s ex-wife Elizabeth Weber is opening up about their marriage and what really led to her leaving her first husband, Jon Small, for the famed singer.

“I never thought of Bill as the homewrecker,” Weber exclusively told Us Weekly on Friday, August 8, adding that she needed to “tread carefully” because “Jon and I didn’t have a great romance.”

Weber first met Joel when she was married to his best friend and bandmate, Small. The pair engaged in an affair that was credited for breaking up the band and negatively impacting Joel’s mental health, which at one point included a deep depression and two suicide attempts.

The affair was discussed in the new, two-part HBO documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes, which premiered in July. In it, Joel touches on the infidelity, going on to describe the feeling of being what he perceived to be a homewrecker.

“The home was wrecked,” she added. “We didn’t have a deep connection, Jon and I. Almost in a way, my life began again when my son was born. Sean just lit up every room. He was an adorable, precocious child. So I really never thought of Bill as a homewrecker because there wasn’t much home to wreck.”

In the doc, Joel told filmmakers that he “was just in love with a woman, and I got punched in the nose, which I deserved.”

After attempting to take his own life for a second time following the band’s split and in the midst of his depression, Small took Joel to the hospital — saving his life.

“He never really said anything to me,” Small said in the documentary. “The only practical answer I can give as to why Billy took it so hard was because he loved me that much and that it killed him to hurt me that much. Eventually I forgave him.”

Joel and Weber later reconnected following the fallout of the affair and said “I do” in 1973, going on to spend nearly 10 years together before their 1982 divorce. Joel went on to marry Christie Brinkley in 1985, welcoming daughter Alexa Ray Joel before calling it quits in 1994. Joel then married cookbook author Katie Lee in 2004 — the pair divorced five years later in 2009. In 2015, Joel married Alex Roderick. The pair share two children, Della Rose Joel and Remy Anne Joel.

“Bill and I became, like, an arc,” Weber explained to Us of their previous relationship. “We were unto ourselves with Sean. So, I wasn’t seeking anyone’s approval because while I don’t really play an instrument anymore, I’m kind of rock and roll, too. I’m outside of the boundaries. And I decided in those days that I wanted to live a certain life.”

Weber describes her current relationship with Joel as friendly, but not particularly close, telling Us, “If I wanna talk to him or if I have something to say, I am able to contact him whenever I want to.”

“But, he has a wife and he has children and, right now, he’s struggling with something that’s … that’s a big thing,” she added. “So [our relationship is] as close as it needs to be for two people who decided to divorce 40 years ago.”

In May, Joel canceled his remaining 2025 tour dates after revealing he had received a normal pressure hydrocephalus diagnosis, a brain condition where abnormal buildup of cerebrospinal fluid that can cause walking, memory, balance and bladder control issues.

“I have my grandchildren that he knows and they know him,” Webber continued of their relationship in the midst of his diagnosis. “And his relationship with Sean is important to both of them. So we’re not distant, but we’re, you know, and he lives in Florida and I live in California. But it’s all good.”

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.