From Christie Brinkley's divorce to his views on Trump: 5 key details from Billy Joel's part 2 documentary 'And So It Goes' 

The Billy Joel: And So It Goes, Part Two documentary aired on July 25, 2025, wrapping up the two-part retrospective of the iconic musician’s life. This part of the documentary covers his tumultuous marriage to Christie Brinkley, reunion with his father, and his views on the US president Donald Trump.

The first part of Billy Joel: And So It Goes premiered in June 2025. It covered Billy Joel’s upbringing, early relationships, and personal struggles. Read on to know more about the key details covered in Billy's And So It Goes Part 2 documentary.

5 key insights from Part 2 of the HBO documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes

Billy's marriage to Christie Brinkley

Joel reflects on his romance with model Christie Brinkley, calling it "like being a teenager all over again." In the series, he says:

''Here I am dating this beautiful supermodel and... me? I’m from Hicksville. What am I doing with her? What’s she doing with me? But that was a very productive time for me. I wrote a lot of songs for her. She was a muse.''

He continued:

"It was like being a teenager all over again. Experiencing those same emotions that I had when I was first discovering romance and love."

The pair married in 1985 and had a daughter, Alexa. His marriage to Christie led to him writing some iconic songs, including I Go to Extremes. They later divorced in 1994.

Reunion with his father

In the series, Joel examines his fraught childhood and emotional estrangement from his father, Howard Joel, whom he ultimately meets in Vienna. He wrote the 1977 song Vienna, taking inspiration from his journey to Vienna and reuniting with his father.

His friend Howard Stern shares how Joel expresses his life's trauma through his songs. He says:

''You see the glimpse of the trauma Billy had in his life in his songs … I think his drive is wanting to know his father through music.''

The Madison Square Garden Residency

The series reveals that Joel’s historic 10-year residency at Madison Square Garden included around 150 shows, making it the venue’s first-ever long-term concert residency. Joel also credits his longtime bandmates as an “extended family” and the essential house band behind the residency’s emotional consistency.

The series highlights how the run became a major cultural milestone. In the series, Billy also mentions how music saved his life.

Condemning Trump’s Charlottesville remarks

In the second part of the documentary, Joel condemns Donald Trump's remarks over his claim that there were “very fine people on both sides” of 2017's “Unite the Right” white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, as per Entertainment Weekly.

He also says :

''I’ve never liked getting political onstage. People wanna get away from a lot of that stuff, I realized that. But sometimes there are things that happen and you can’t just look away.''

He mentioned how he chose a subtle yet powerful protest by wearing a yellow Star of David on his jacket during his Madison Square Garden concert. He said, “I had to do something…I was angry…no soapbox, but the star. He then looks at the camera and says:

''No matter what, I will always be a Jew.''

Meeting his now-wife, Alexis Roderick

In the series, Billy reflects on the first time he met Alexis and admits that her disinterest in his skills captivated him. He says in the film:

''When you meet someone who captures your imagination, it renews, it revitalizes. I remember the first time I met Alexis, we went to my house, and I wanted to play the piano for her. It’s a form of communication for me.''

He then recalls playing a piece of The Seven-Year Itch film for Alexis. He says:

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''I’m playing that and she’s completely unimpressed with it, totally. She couldn’t care less what I’m playing and I’m thinking, ‘Oh OK, this isn’t working. She was very unimpressed with the whole Billy Joel thing, which impressed me. Because I thought, ‘OK, maybe she’s just here because she likes me, not the Billy Joel guy.’”

These were some of the key insights from the musician's life that were explored in the film. And So It Goes, the two‑part HBO documentary, is available to stream on HBO Max and Hulu.

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