(NewsNation) — Billy Joel spoke about his struggles with alcohol, saying a loved one issued him an “ultimatum” over his drinking.
In his HBO documentary “Billy Joel: And So It Goes,” the 76-year-old singer revealed that his then-wife, Katie Lee, told him he must go to rehab or their marriage would be over, according to People magazine.
“‘Either you do something about your drinking, or this isn’t gonna work out,’” Joel recalls Lee saying. “At that point, yeah, the relationship wasn’t doing well.”
Joel checked into the Betty Ford Center in 2005, something he says he didn’t want to do.
“With the rehab, you don’t go for somebody else. You have to go for yourself. You have to want to do it,” he says in the film, according to People magazine. “I didn’t want to do it.”
Lee and Joel were married for five years, divorcing in 2009.
Billy Joel: ‘I never had a DUI in my life‘
Joel also refuted past reports that he was charged with a DUI over his drinking and multiple accidents over the years.
“There’s this rumor that I have all these DUIs. That never happened. But people keep repeating the myth,” he reportedly said in the documentary. “’Oh, he’s got so many DUIs.’
“I never had a DUI. So f— you. The press can be mean. So having that much attention paid to you is not easy.”
According to Bang Showbiz NZ, he got into an accident in 1999; in 2003 when he drove his car into a tree in Sag Harbor, New York; and in 2004 when he crashed into a house.
Billy Joel and Katie Lee Joel during Le Cirque Opening Party at One Beacon Court at One Beacon Court in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Desiree Navarro/FilmMagic) 
Billy Joel speaks at a news conference at Madison Square Garden on Thursday, June 1, 2023, in New York, to announce his MSG residency will end after July 2024. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP) 
FILE – Musician Billy Joel performs during his 100th lifetime performance at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, July 18, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
“[The accidents had] nothing to do with the booze. … I never had a DUI in my life,” he told The New York Times in 2013.
The “Uptown Girl” singer has been sober since 2021.
Billy Joel’s brain disorder diagnosis
In May, the music icon canceled his North American and English tour dates after he was diagnosed with a brain disorder called normal pressure hydrocephalus, which is caused by a buildup of cerebrospinal fluid pressing on the brain and is most common in people over 65.
“It was scary, but I’m OK,” Joel, 76, told People magazine. “I just wanted to let people know, don’t worry about me being deathly ill or anything.”