Billy Joel attempted suicide by drinking furniture polish

[AlertBot]

Grammy award-winning singer Billy Joel tried to kill himself by drinking furniture polish, because he was so tormented by an affair with his drummer's wife. In new book Billy Joel: The Life And Times Of A Young Man, the rocker reveals keeping his affair with Elizabeth Small secret left him depressed and prepared to take his own life. The hitmaker was saved by the very man he was betraying when bandmate Jon Small rushed him to hospital. Joel was later transferred to a psychiatric ward. Lover Small notoriously inspired Joel's 1978 hit "She's Always A Woman" and the pair later married.

IMDb.com

[stargazer]

I'm not sure whether to feel genuinely sorry for Billy or be disgusted that he's exploiting this very personal piece of information to market his new book.

[Elisa]

I'm always intrigued by the pretentiousness of celebrities who think we all want to know so much about them that they have to write a book. Especially these young celebrities who haven't even really lived yet (i.e. Paris Hilton).

For a lot of them, do we really need to know more than we already do? Their faces are plastered on the covers of magazines, tabloids, etc. That's plenty enough for me.

[A*O]

So a 'rock star' screwed around - what's new?

[Hooey]

If I was going to kill myself, there are better and less painful ways to do it than drinking furniture polish. Bleck!

[Lalique]

What a jackass. I can just imagine him sitting in the bathroom asking himself, "Hmmm, painkillers or lemon scented Pledge? What to use, What to use?"

[miss_perfect]

Originally Posted by Hooey

If I was going to kill myself, there are better and less painful ways to do it than drinking furniture polish. Bleck!

Gonna have to agree with ya there! The margin of error is far too large and painful here.

[barbiedoll25]

Wasn't he married at this point?

[euro-kitty]

Originally Posted by Hooey

If I was going to kill myself, there are better and less painful ways to do it than drinking furniture polish. Bleck!

I was thinking the same thing...always wonder how these people keep that shit down with out gagging & barfing it up

[Hooey]

Seriously, why would anyone even THINK of furniture polish as a suicide tool? I mean, when you have guns, and cars and other stuff... it just blows my mind that someone would use FURNITURE POLISH! Wouldn't you want to just do it as quickly as possible?
Of course, I guess suicidal people aren't thinking straight anyway.
Okay, done rambling now.

[britlitgal]

this has "wtf" written all over it in so many ways... you guys touched on the furniture polish bit pretty thoroughly.

not only that, but wasn't that his...what...second marriage at the time? he's on number four now. i wonder if he thinks back on number two, laughing and shaking his head, like, "to think i drank furniture polish for that wench! if i had only known that one day i'd be marrying christie brinkley!"

also, for some reason i read the thread title and then read the first post, all the while thinking i was reading about billy idol. what the hell is wrong with me today?

[Icepik]

I wonder if it was PLEDGE furniture polish.

Lemony.

[Morrisonlver]

^^ You're bad...lol! I don't feel sorry for him. He's been acting like an idiot for over 20 yrs now. It's getting a little old...

[ourmaninBusan]

Originally Posted by Hooey

Seriously, why would anyone even THINK of furniture polish as a
suicide tool? I mean, when you have guns, and cars and other stuff...
it just blows my mind that someone would use FURNITURE POLISH!
Wouldn't you want to just do it as quickly as possible?
Of course, I guess suicidal people aren't thinking straight anyway.
Okay, done rambling now.

Well, some suicide attempts are basically "cries for help";
subconsciously, you don't want to end your life, you just
want to see if people will notice...did your being there
affect them at all? Will any of them miss you? etc.

Having said that, there was a rumor that Christie Brinkley
was having an affair on Joel in Aspen when her helicopter
crashed into a mountain. She escaped, but a few weeks
afterward, she and Joel got divorced. Perhaps she woke up
one day and realized he was dead weight.

(After all, around the time National Lampoon's Vacation came out,
in 1983, people were touting Christie to be a big star. Then she
married Joel and pffffffffffft...her movie career just deflated.)

I just read that the night Sharon was giving birth to Jack, Ozzy was found in bed with the nanny. Sharon says she was an "old cow"-ouch!