With two famous and wealthy parents, Alexa Ray Joel seemed to have everything from the moment she was born. But then a bottle of pills nearly took it all away in one terrible instant.
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00:00With two famous and wealthy parents, Alexa Rae Joel seemed to have everything from the
00:05moment she was born, but then a bottle of pills nearly took it all away in one terrible
00:09instant.
00:11Being the child of rich and famous parents may seem like a perfect life. Unfortunately,
00:15Alexa Rae Joel couldn't escape the pain of her parents' divorce.
00:19Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley first got together in 1983, and married two years later.
00:24The superstar couple welcomed their only child together before the end of 1985, and seemed
00:28to have a happy life. However, Brinkley and Joel's marriage fell apart in late 1993, leading
00:34to a nasty public divorce.
00:36In January 1995, as part of the divorce trial, Alexa's former nanny, Alzerine Vianna, swore
00:42in an affidavit that Brinkley had ignored signs of her 8-year-old daughter's distress.
00:46Vianna claimed she tried to warn Brinkley about her daughter's troubled behavior, saying
00:50Alexa would become angry and would lose her temper, but to no avail. Vianna said,
00:55Alexa was withdrawing from her friends, and she was spending a lot of time alone in her
00:59room, but I felt like I was talking to a wall, because Christie didn't respond at all."
01:04Brinkley's lawyer characterized Vianna as a disgruntled employee, dismissing her claims.
01:09Although she grew up with two incredibly famous parents, Alexa Rae Joel initially didn't have
01:13a clue as to the extent of their stardom as a kid. She told the New York Post in December
01:182010,
01:19"...I just thought they were popular. I thought I was the star."
01:22As she got older, however, Alexa was struggling to overcome the immense pressure of being
01:26the only child of her gorgeous mother and musical genius father. It was never,
01:30"...I hate my parents."
01:31It was more,
01:32"...I hate myself. I was very shy and insecure, and I felt like I was in this big shadow."
01:37Like her father, Alexa fell in love with singing and embarked on a music career herself, but
01:42it's been far from easy. Accusations of nepotism came her way, but she insists that she's not
01:47interested in getting a leg up for being Billy Joel's daughter.
01:50During a May 2021 interview with Yahoo!, Alexa talked about how she's focused on stepping
01:55out of her parents' shadow, saying,
01:57"...sometimes it is a little bit frustrating, because I feel that I have to repeat myself
02:01in terms of how involved I am with my own work."
02:04Alexa Rae Joel was seemingly born to be a musician. Besides her famous father, her middle
02:08name was given in homage to Ray Charles, the iconic singer-songwriter who duetted with
02:13Billy Joel on Baby Grand.
02:15Alexa has spoken of her devotion to music and released her first EP, Sketches, in 2006.
02:21She released an original single in 2011 as well, called Beg You to Stay.
02:24Sadly, it was around this time that the difficult treatment she received from tabloids, media,
02:29and online trolls took over her life, leading her to take a 10-year hiatus from recording
02:34music.
02:35During her 2021 conversation with Yahoo!, Alexa recounted how she'd reacted to being
02:39scrutinized as a teenager, saying it made her want to disappear. So, as she explained,
02:44"...I just hid in my then-boyfriend's house and I completely shut down. I was like, I'm
02:49never doing music again."
02:50It took Alexa years to feel comfortable performing live again, eventually starring in a series
02:55of cabaret shows in New York to regain her confidence. Thankfully, she has come back
03:00into the limelight stronger than ever, having released a couple singles in 2021. And in
03:04September 2024, she teased the release of her next EP.
03:09In December 2009, Alexa overdosed on a muscle relaxer. Almost immediately, she called emergency
03:14services, complaining that it was hard to breathe. Thankfully, the singer received treatment
03:19at the hospital, but it didn't take long for the press to catch wind of the incident, leading
03:23to a media frenzy of speculation and headlines.
03:26One year later, Alexa tried to set the record straight. In a 2010 interview with the New
03:30York Post, she explained that after a breakup from her boyfriend of five years, musician
03:34Jimmy Riot, she spiraled.
03:36"...I have a flair for the dramatic. I got caught up in my own head. It was a panic.
03:41I didn't want to die. I just didn't want to feel what I was feeling at that moment
03:44anymore."
03:45That same year, in an interview with ABC News, she clarified that it wasn't a suicide attempt,
03:50but rather an accidental overdose while trying to calm a panic attack.
03:54"...I wasn't trying to hurt myself. I wasn't trying to kill myself. I was panicked. I was
04:00not thinking clearly at all."
04:02Fortunately, her parents were supportive, and they became closer as she recovered. Alexa
04:07poured all of her anguish into her music, finding a healthy outlet to deal with her
04:10emotions. She said she's been working on herself since the incident.
04:15Over the years, there have been countless famous celebrities with terrifying stalker
04:18stories. Tragically, Alexa found this out firsthand in 2013, when she became the victim
04:24of Cheryl Finley's stalking and abusive Facebook messages. The singer had been bombarded for
04:28months by unsolicited DMs that, according to court records, included references to sadistic
04:34sexual behavior, violent physical assaults, and murder. Alexa was, understandably, too
04:39scared to leave her home, and her dad hired a bodyguard.
04:42Billy Joel also sought the help of an internet security company, which had come recommended
04:46by Sir Paul McCartney to help track the perpetrator down, something which took only minutes. Finley
04:51was charged with the harassment and cyber-stalking of Alexa, for which she pleaded not guilty.
04:57Finley had struggled with her mental health over the years, having spent some time in
05:00a psychiatric facility. She was discovered nude in the woods of her hometown by local
05:04police. As a result of stalking Alexa, Finley faced up to five years in jail and a fine
05:09of up to $10,000.
05:11Alexa's mom, Christy Brinkley, is a stunning supermodel, and unfortunately, that means
05:15Alexa has been bullied throughout her life over her looks. Even as a child, unkind comments
05:20were made online about how she looked more like her rock star father than her glamorous
05:24mother. In speaking with Yahoo, Alexa remarked,
05:27"...I was made to feel ashamed. I was critiqued for my appearance. I just felt that it wasn't
05:32fair. I wasn't ready to be looked at or viewed in that way. I was still kind of growing into
05:36myself and was definitely going through a bit of an awkward phase, as the rest of us
05:40go through."
05:41One physical attribute many of her haters would point out was her nose. In 2010, Alexa
05:46made the decision to undergo plastic surgery to change the shape of her nose. She told
05:51People magazine in 2014,
05:52"...I liked everything else about my physical appearance, but my nose always bothered me
05:57a bit. I think I look more like me than my father's daughter now."
06:01When she debuted a new look on Instagram in April 2014, showcasing a revealing outfit
06:05and smoky eye, the media became convinced that Alexa had altered far more than just
06:10her nose, something she denied. She wrote on Instagram in a since-deleted caption,
06:14"...I would just like to add that all of the continuously circulating rumors that I have
06:18had extensive face work and undergone breast augmentation surgery is simply and entirely
06:23100% false."
06:25Alexa confirmed that rhinoplasty was all she'd had done, and that she'd always been honest
06:29about this, adding that any change in appearance was due to the talents of her incredibly skilled
06:34makeup artist.
06:35"...No, I haven't had anything, anything else done."
06:38Unfortunately, despite the passage of time, the cruel comments haven't ceased. Fortunately,
06:44Alexa knows how to clap back at trolls, and when an unkind Instagrammer said something
06:47about her looks in a January 2018 comment, she retorted,
06:51"...You may think I'm hideous, but I like the way I look. And that's really all that
06:55matters."
06:56Alexa Rae Joel had found her niche and stepped out of her father's shadow when she began
07:00starring in cabaret performances. Unfortunately, she had a frightening health scare while on
07:04stage during a sold-out show at the Cafe Carlyle in New York City in April 2014. Alexa was
07:10giving the final performance of her two-week run at the Jazz Lounge when she collapsed.
07:14The singer was taken to the hospital, where it was determined the cause was vasovagal
07:18syncope, an often harmless medical condition that occurs when your nervous system malfunctions,
07:23causing a drop in blood pressure and heart rate.
07:25Alexa didn't need any further treatment, but was disappointed she couldn't finish her performance.
07:30She said in a statement,
07:31"...I wanted to thank everyone for coming out to support me. I was excited and determined
07:35to fulfill my final performance, and I really wanted to end my run with a bang. But this
07:39was not what I had in mind."
07:41"...I'm doing fine, I'm great, I'm standing, I'm okay."
07:45After years of difficulty, heartbreak, and scrutiny, Alexa Rae Joel shared some thrilling
07:50news in 2018 when, after dating restaurateur Ryan Gleeson for over four years, he popped
07:55the question. Alexa announced her engagement in an Instagram post in January, writing,
08:00"...I was completely taken off guard, dumbstruck, and shell-shocked, and for once in my life
08:04I had absolutely no words. I just kept staring at this ridiculously exquisite ring."
08:10A year went by without a word about what their plans were, and in an interview with People
08:14in January 2019, the singer explained that they had just been too busy to set the date.
08:19But she also revealed that she had done some planning, deciding on old-school Italian food
08:23for the reception. She also added that she wouldn't have bridesmaids by her side during
08:27the ceremony.
08:28Sadly, Christy Brinkley confirmed in March 2020 that her daughter's wedding planning
08:32had been paused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many people whose ceremonies were delayed
08:37by coronavirus, Alexa was disappointed, but it was the responsible choice. So far, at
08:41least, she and her beau have yet to tie the knot, nor have they confirmed any more future
08:45plans to do so. After everything she's been through, here's hoping that Alexa finally
08:50gets her very own happily ever after.