EXCLUSIVE: Ex-Boozehound Billy Joel Admits Alcohol Addiction Triggered 'Bad Blood' With Sir Elton John After Rocketman Said He Needed 'Real Rehab to Battle Demons'
Billy Joel has admitted alcohol addiction fueled bad blood with Sir Elton John.
Sept. 1 2025, Published 6:30 a.m. ET
Reformed boozehound Billy Joel is singing that his battle with the bottle poured "bad blood" on his friendship with former tour partner Elton John, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
In Billy Joel: And So It Goes – a no-holds-barred documentary about the hitmaker's life now airing on HBO Max – the Piano Man, 76, recalls how John, 78, blasted him in a 2011 Rolling Stone interview for canceling shows on their Face 2 Face tours nearly a decade earlier because of "alcoholism."
Recovering addict John also griped Joel went to cushy "rehab light" – rather than seriously dealing with his "demons" – and was "coasting" on his old hits.
Billy Was Really 'Hurt' By The Comments
Elton John once blasted Billy Joel for canceling shows over his struggle with alcoholism.
"That really hurt me," Joel confided in the two-part docuseries, which was first available in full on July 25. "I said, 'Wait a minute? Don't you know me better than that?' And there was bad blood for a little while."
Joel, who told the Los Angeles Times in 2023 that he put a cork in his alcohol habit "a couple years ago" after getting fed up with being "completely inebriated," has patched things up with John, but the two haven't toured together since the Rocket Man rocker's caustic comments.
Since then, the Movin' Out singer has suffered a string of health issues, even falling on stage earlier this year.
Billy's Health Issues
Joel reportedly quit drinking after years of being 'completely inebriated.'
In May, Joel was forced to abruptly cancel upcoming concert dates and announced he'd been diagnosed with the brain disorder normal pressure hydrocephalus.
Sources said the illness occurs when cerebrospinal fluid builds up inside the skull and presses on the brain, disrupting cognitive functioning.
In the documentary, Joel looks considerably thinner, but shows signs of the irrepressible energy that saw him set an unlikely to ever be broken 150 sellouts at New York City's Madison Square Garden.
Billy's Not Planning On Retiring
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Billy has 'no plans to retire.'
The Honesty singer insists he "feels good" in the HBO Max show and told People that he has "no plans to retire."
"It was scary, but I'm OK," he told the outlet of his medical issue. "I just wanted to let people know. Don't worry about me being deathly ill or anything."
A source said: "He is happiest while performing. Music is, has been and will always be his life."
