Back in March, Billy Joel canceled all of his upcoming concerts after revealing that he had been diagnosed with a rare brain disorder.
In the months since, the rock icon has mostly kept a low profile as he recovers at home.
But in recent weeks, a new documentary about Joel has led to increased scrutiny of his personal life.
That may be why the Piano Man decided to break his silence and open up about his condition:
Billy Joel explains ‘scary’ neurological condition
Joel is battling normal pressure hydrocephalus, a condition that affects numerous brain functions, including the ability to maintain balance.
The singer-songwriter first became concerned after falling down during a concert earlier this year.
“It was like being on a boat all the time,” Joel explains in a new interview with People magazine.
But while he admits that his ailment is “scary” at times, Joel says there’s no need for immediate concern.
“I know a lot of people are worried about me and my health, but I’m okay,” he says.
“What I have is something very few people know about, including me, no matter how much you try to research it. I’m doing my best to work with it and to recover from it.”
Joel added that while it may be a while before he’s able to perform again, he’s not “deathly ill,” as some fans seem to think.
“It was scary, but I’m okay,” he tells People. “I just wanted to let people know, don’t worry about me being deathly ill or anything.”
Billy Joel is back in the headlines
With the second part of his HBO Max documentary set to premiere on Friday, public interest in Joel is the highest it’s been since the peak of his fame.
“I’ve resisted this kind of thing for so long. I’m sick of talking about myself. My goal was to get it over with. When I do interviews, people just ask you about yourself and you get a little self-conscious about it eventually. It’s almost embarrassing,” the legendary singer-songwriter tells People, adding:
“I was worried, maybe I’m going to hate this thing, because it’s a lot to ask of somebody, a lifetime of work.[But] at the end, I didn’t hate it, which, to me, is the real compliment.”
While the doc is not always flattering, Joel says watching it has been a revelatory experience:
I“There was some stuff I found out about myself. There was some self-revelatory stuff.”
Joel says co-director Susan Lacy helped him realize that “a lot of the things I was searching for were my father in my life, and I recognized that in the documentary.”
Joel’s father left his family and moved to Austria when Billy was a boy. He later wrote the song “Vienna” about the experience, and he reconnected with his father toward the end of his life.
Part one of Billy Joel: And So It Goes is currently streaming on HBO Max.