Andrew Gold: Right before you married Christie Brinkley, you dated Elle Macpherson. And later you married Katie Lee, also a young, very beautiful woman. Do you think your relationship with female beauty is any different from any other red-blooded American male?
Billy Joel: A lot of guys are just too intimidated to even ask them out, but I had a great way to meet people. People are just interested in you because you’re a rock star. O.K. Some guys use a car. Some guys have a cute dog. I’m a rock star. That’s who I am, what I do. What’s wrong with that?
From: “Billy Joel on Not Working and Not Giving Up Drinking” in The New York Times Magazine
[hr]
My Unfettered Advice:
As a Catholic girl who started much too late I respect and admire your work, Billy, so let me take a crack at this.
There is nothing wrong with engaging women who are interested in what you do. However, when you (and others) “use” stuff to attract women, you are going to attract women who want “stuff.” Isn’t one of the great dilemmas of the wealthy trying to figure out who wants to be close to you for you and who wants to be close to you for your cash flow?
I wouldn’t presume to judge your past relationships and how this played into them, but moving forward maybe it’s about a woman who digs the essence of you. Perhaps she’s drawn to the brilliant artist and not so much the “rock star.”
Because, you know, that Katie thing could have gone differently. When you met that night and she didn’t know who you were you could have “used” that to your advantage. Instead of making her see how famous you are by whisking her off to your Broadway play, you could have kept her in the dark and then let things develop in a more real way.
Something to think about?
