I’m not invested in the marriage of Billy Joel and his third wife, Katie Lee. Even though Katie is 27 years old, compared to the 60-year-old Billy Joel she has always seemed like a child-bride to me. They got married when she was 23 – just four years older than his daughter Alexa Ray – and in the past four years, Katie has managed to build a half-decent career for herself as some kind of professional foodie, launching a now-defunct website, writing about food for magazines, making guest appearances on television shows, and hosting the first season of Top Chef.
There seems to be trouble in gold-digging child-bride paradise though. The Enquirer is reporting a juicy rumor that Billy Joel is convinced that Katie has been cheating on him – with 36-year-old Israeli designer Yigal Azrouel. Azrouel’s stuff has been in Vogue, and he seems like a half-decent designer, favoring those sort of urban-combat-luxe kind of designs. So what’s an up-and-coming, straight fashion designer doing with the Pianoman’s trophy wife? I have no idea, but apparently Billy Joel has convinced himself they’re up to no good, and Billy has already contacted his divorce lawyers:
“Take a hike!”
With those angry words, Billy Joel pulled the plug on his four-and-a-half-year marriage to much-younger wife Katie Lee during an explosive fight in mid-June, The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively.
The 60-year-old Piano Man, who’s been married twice before, has already retained a top lawyer and is expected to hit the courthouse again soon to file for divorce from Katie Lee, 27, say close sources.
The final straw for the superstar musician was his young wife’s refusal to end her cozy relationship with Yigal Azrouel, a handsome 36-year-old Israeli-born fashion designer.
In our April 20 issue, The ENQUIRER reported that Katie Lee had been seeing Yigal for nearly a year. She’d moved out of Billy’s Long Island mansion to the New York condo they have – just blocks from Yigal’s boutique.
Billy, who had been away for months on a long concert tour, was told by close pals that Katie Lee was up to no good – and that he should dump her.
Their final fight occurred when Katie Lee asked Billy to accompany her to an event she was hosting in the Hamptons on June 13, said the source.
“He snapped, ‘So now you want me to be by your side and play your happy husband?! Take a hike!'”
[From The National Enquirer]
Of course this is nothing but a rumor printed in the Enquirer. But there’s a whiff of believability to it. How many of these trophy-wife situations work out in the long run? Especially with the age difference that huge? It’s not as if Katie Lee is some kind of Catherine Zeta-Jones type of woman, who could make the situation work in the long-run. And perhaps if Billy Joel was so concerned about his wife playing around, he shouldn’t go on tour for months at a time. My guess is we’ll see Billy filing for divorce in the coming months.
Billy Joel and Katie Lee Joel are shown on 5/4/09 and 6/15/09. Credit: PRPhotos
Wasn’t he married to Christie Brinkly at one time? With their marriage track records maybe they should get back together!
She is such a stunning woman. I would marry a 60 year-old if it ensured I had access to such fabulous dresses.
I don’t condone cheating in any way for any reason. That being said, however, I must say Joel is an absolute moron if he thought that this marriage would last forever. He is an old fool who married a very young girl who wanted money. He should not be surprised in the least with how things turned out; in fact, he should have expected it. I mean, one didn’t need to be a psychic 4 years ago to see how this was going to turn out.
Think of it this way. If he was Billy Joel the plumber or Billy Joel the drywall installer, does he really think she’d have been interested in him? Uh–no. She wanted someone rich and famous so she’d have security and the finer things in life. He wanted arm candy and a young woman in his bed at night. They both got what they wanted. If it has run its course now, so be it. But no one should pretend that this was an actual marriage in the traditional sense, in that they both thought this was a love match that would last forever.
Perhaps now he will find an age-appropriate woman and stop embarrassing himself by dating girls that are way, way too young for him.
Funny I just read on Perez yesterday that he bought her a restaurant in the Hamptons. Do you really buy a restaurant for the person you are planning on divorcing??
Carrie, maybe that was part an agreement they made in anticipation of the divorce.
I’ve heard this rumor for a while (about the affair). I’ve also heard Brinkley quoted saying that BJ still babysits her younger two kids. Maybe a reconciliation is on the horizon?
Whatever. But I’m LOVIN’ that dress she’s got on in the top pic! Very smart look.
You sure that second picture is Katie Lee J? It looks an awful lot like model Hilary Rhoda. Just sayin’! 🙂
it is hilary rhoda in the second pic-katie lee joel has brown eyes and hilary has blue, which you can clearly see in the pics.
If this is really the truth, then i’m glad she got out of this relationship. She is a young, smart beauty ad he strikes me as an aging, grumpy alcoholic. Maybe he is sober now, i don’t know. But i have an eerie feeling about all this.
That person in the bottom is most definitely top model Hilary Rhoda… Did you post that pic because she is wearing the designer or something? Please caption photos properly…
Photo tags sometimes get mixed up at the photo agency.
Anyway, back to the issue at hand: has anyone ever noticed that people who often repeatedly accuse their significant others of cheating quite often tend to be cheating themselves. Attack being their favoured form of defence and a way of deflecting attention from themselves. Just sayin’…
Anyway. She’s quite right to stick to her guns over her friendship. They’d be far better off committing to counselling long-term than BJ laying down the law. Let him deal with his insecurities and possessiveness on his own time.
FINALLY!!! She bugs!!!
Those are two beautiful women.
I’ve heard the rumors for a while.
Purple dress lady – very pretty.
BJs wife lady – a bit silly, but very pretty too.
Nice dresses all round.
Roma, I understand your impulse to trade your youth and beauty for a dress (okay, many, many dresses), but remember, there are no free dresses in gold-diggers’ heaven. You WILL pay for that dress and in a way you cannot afford (just look at Katie Holmes).
Re: Catherine Zeta Jones, sorry but she’s an exception, that rare woman who could make a relationship with Fort Knox work if a lavish lifestyle were at stake. Being saddled with even a nice, old man is no joke, but add to that a lifetime of issues that made him incapable of sustaining a relationship with any woman before (alcoholism? drug addiction? spousal abuse? infidelity?) and you have a pretty unpalatable situation. I wouldn’t take it for anything.
These old coots will never learn.
If a man “or woman wants “arm candy” they are going to pay the price for it. ANyone who marries someone 35 yrs younger then they are are just asking for trouble. I cant believe they think these gold diggers actually love them and not their money????
What’s up with these celebs? Why can’t they be with people closer to their own age? No matter man or a woman , when you are 50 or 60 year old , an 18 – 20 year old is only with you for your fame and fortune . They are going to use you and then walk off with someone their own age.
Guess the Enquirer was right, the split announcement is on People.com.
She’s HOT! He’s NOT!
What a “has been”. Good luck BJ on finding another young girl that wants your old as…..
OMG, I’m so nasty!
Hmms another story NE gets right; It seems the Enquirer mostly gets stories right compared to other tabs before the news break
IMDB also says that the split is now official.
I think this is sad, she seems like a sweet lady. She sure was when I met her at a book signing. He always seemed (in the media at least) to be unstable, so who knows what is true here.
Carrie says:
Funny I just read on Perez yesterday that he bought her a restaurant in the Hamptons. Do you really buy a restaurant for the person you are planning on divorcing??
Yah, if you want the “real” gossip read that moron…lol
Of course this beautiful 27 year old woman is probably cheating on Billy Joel! LOL. Girlfriend got her ‘gold’ & is now ‘digging’ her ways on to a much younger, cuter man who isn’t 60!! Men are such idiots. No woman marries a man 30+ years older than her for love? It’s almost always for the money or lifestyle upgrade. Poor Billy, Suckers never learn, except when they pay in Divorce Court!(lol)
Age has little to do with that.
Billy is a talented guy, but keeps making the same mistakes.
He has married one of the most notorious gold-diggers- Christie Brinkly and hasn’t learned a thing.
Poor Billy. Didn’t learn to tell which one is after the money and status and which one is for real.
By the way, Katie reminds me of another famous gold and fame digger (with the same “fake- sweet and innocent” smile.
Our lovely Katie Holmes.
Though, none of them will ever reach the level of professional gold digging as Christie Brinkly.
She was and still is the top of her profession and her many houses and accumulated property will attest.
I don’t get why you call Christie Brinkley a gold digger. She has been a supermodel for decades and has made many, many millions of dollars on her own. She certainly has never needed a man to support her in a lavish lifestyle. It’s fine if you dislike her, but calling her a gold digger just makes no sense, since she obviously is not one.
I agree, barneslr. And if Katie Lee has a hot, young Israeli designer as her lover, she has more guts and nerve than I thought. I don’t condone cheating on either person’s part, but Billy is an arrogant fool to think he can hold the interest of a girl younger than his first child (and just four years older than his second). He was an idiot to dump Christie because she got too “old.” Ass.
I have to agree with you, J Ferber. Cheating is inexcusable. But anyone could have predicted how this was going to turn out.
Oh I’ll bet BJ’s a mega ego, piano playing pain in the ass to live with.