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\n\tThe first part of the new Billy Joel<\/a> documentary, Billy Joel: And So It Goes<\/em>, premiered at the Tribeca Festival in New York on Wednesday and it featured a section about one of the most difficult periods in the 76-year-old singer\u2019s life. According to People<\/a><\/em>, the film co-directed by Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin delves into a dark incident early in Joel\u2019s career when he attempted suicide two times after having an affair with a former bandmate\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cBill and I spent a lot of time together,\u201d Elizabeth Weber says in the documentary about the affair she had with Joel when he was in his 20s and she was married to the singer\u2019s best friend and Atila bandmate drummer Jon Small. She says in the film that the affair was a \u201cslow build\u201d until Small, who had a son with Weber, suspected something was going on and Joel fessed up to the affair, telling him, \u201cI\u2019m in love with your wife.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tJoel \u2014 who did not attend the premiere after cancelling a summer run of shows<\/a> due to a recent diagnosis of the brain condition normal pressure hydrocephalus \u2014 says in the film that he felt \u201cvery, very guilty about it. They had a child. I felt like a homewrecker. I was just in love with a woman and I got punched in the nose which I deserved. Jon was very upset. I was very upset.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe brawl marked the end of Atila and the pair\u2019s friendship, with Weber leaving Small \u2014 and later reconnecting with Joel, to whom she was married from 1973-1982 \u2014 and the singer spiraling into a dark period of drink and depression. \u201cI had no place to live. I was sleeping in laundromats and I was depressed I think to the point of almost being psychotic,\u201d Joel says in the film. \u201cSo I figured, \u2018That\u2019s it. I don\u2019t want to live anymore.\u2019 I was just in a lot of pain and it was sort of like why hang out, tomorrow is going to be just like today is and today sucks. So, I just thought I\u2019d end it all.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tJoel\u2019s sister, Judy Molinari, was a medical assistant at the time and she gave him some sleeping pills to help him get some rest. \u201cBut Billy decided that he was going to take all of them\u2026 he was in a coma for days and days and days,\u201d she says: \u201cI went to go see him in the hospital, and he was laying there\u00a0white as a sheet. I thought that I\u2019d killed him.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe singer said he was \u201cvery selfish\u201d at the time and recalled waking up in the hospital determined to end his life again. Molinari said her brother drank a bottle of the furniture cleaner Lemon Pledge, with Small driving him to the hospital after that attempt. \u201cEven though our friendship was blowing up, John saved my life,\u201d he says of his former bandmate.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHe never really said anything to me, the only practical answer I can give as to why Billy took it so hard was because he loved me that much and that it killed him to hurt me that much. Eventually I forgave him,\u201d Small says in the movie. Joel later wrote the song \u201cTomorrow Is Today\u201d for his 1971 Cold Spring Harbor<\/em> album, in which he delves into his despondent feelings at the time. \u201cOh my I\u2019m goin\u2019 to the river\/ Gonna take a ride and the lord will deliver me\/ Made my bed, I\u2019m gonna lie in it\/ If you don\u2019t come, sure gonna die in it,\u201d he sings on the track.<\/p>\n \n\tAt Wednesday\u2019s premiere, Lacy shared a message with the audience from Joel in which she said \u201cHe will be back. Billy wishes he were here tonight, and he asked us to convey his greetings to you all. He said \u2018getting old sucks, but it\u2019s still preferable to getting cremated.’\u201d Billy Joel: And So It Goes<\/em> will stream on HBO in July.<\/p>\n \n\tIf you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text \u201cSTRENGTH\u201d to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n