Singer Billy Joel Welcomed Third Child at Age 68 With Fourth Wife | He Was "Thrilled" To Become a Dad Again

Billy Joel has faced heartbreak, mental health issues, addiction, and money issues until he found love again.

Source: Getty Images | Photo by (L) Express Newspapers, (R) Neilson Barnard

By Asmita S

January 20, 2021

Posted January 20, 2021

One of the perks of being a man is that you can be a biological parent at almost any age if you are medically sound and many Hollywood biggies have used this to their advantage. For instance, Richard Gere became a father at the age of 70, while Steve Martin was 67 when he became a father for the first time. There are many others who have welcomed kids well into their 60s.

For instance, musician Billy Joel was 66 when he welcomed his second child, Della Rose Joel, in August 2015. He welcomed his third child, Remy Anne Joel, at the age of 68 in 2017. "Billy is thrilled to become a dad again," a source told PEOPLE at the time.

He shares his second and third child with his fourth wife, Alexis Roderick, 38.

He has another daughter with his second wife, supermodel Christie Brinkley, but who are his other exes? Joel was married to Elizabeth Weber from 1973 until their divorce in 1982. They had no kids together, as per Closer Weekly. "She wasn’t like a lot of the other girls I knew at that time who had taken home ec and cooking classes,” he told author Fred Schruers in Billy Joel: The Definitive Biography. "She was . . . intelligent and not afraid to speak her mind, but could also be seductive. Almost like a European-type — not a typical American girl," he added.

When he first met her, she was married to his friend and bandmate Jon Small. Eventually, she left them both and that made the We Didn't Start The Fire singer suicidal. He attempted twice but recovered both times and eventually checked into a mental hospital. She came back to him and the songs She’s Got a Way and She’s Always a Woman were inspired by her. But people close to him didn't like her. However, she took his heart and his money when they divorced.

The Uptown Girl singer married Brinkley three years later, and they welcomed a daughter named Alexa Ray Joel in December 1985. Alexa has become a singer-songwriter and pianist, who has released many singles so far.

The album An Innocent Man was a love letter to his second wife, the singer said. However, because of his financial troubles thanks to his ex-wife, he had to constantly tour and that took a toll on his marriage. "Christie likes to joke that the end of the marriage . . . spelled the end of my songwriting career," Joel told Schruers. "At least, I think it’s a joke."

He was married to Brinkley until 1994. Since his divorce from Brinkley, he took a long break before finding love again. "You just need one — one person out of millions — to know and accept and love you for being, well, just the way you are . . . I see old folks walking down the street who look like they’ve been together 50 years, and there’s something very touching about it — that they’ve lasted so long. I used to wonder: How come I don’t have that? I can dream about it, think about it, write music and lyrics and sing about it. I can even try to achieve it again, and often have," he was quoted as saying by PageSix.

Depressed and having taken to the bottle, he met The Kitchen star Katie Lee in 2002 and married her two years later. They were married for six years and didn't have any kids. Lee was a college girl from Ohio whom he picked up in the lobby of the Peninsula Hotel. She moved in with him in the Hamptons after graduating. When they married, Joel was 55, Lee 23, only four years older than his daughter.

However, only months into the marriage, he went back to rehab. She encouraged him to start working again and he did. However, he started doubting her eventually. Once, when he suggested that they go for therapy, she started talking about furniture. "I realized, ‘It’s not going to happen. We’re over . . . Just don’t send me messages, don’t leave me cute little phone calls, don’t tease me, don’t f- -k with me, just end it. 'Cause I’m an old man now, a vulnerable man. Don’t do that to an old guy,'" said Joel.

Roderick, his current wife was a former hedge fund manager, and they live a quiet life in Oyster Bay. They got married in 2015.