What a surprise Wednesday night: Elizabeth Weber showed up for the opening of the Billy Joel documentary on Wednesday at the Beacon Theater.
Billy, of course, wasn’t there. He’s recovering from a major illness. But who knows if he’d come at all if he knew Weber was going to be there.
HBO showed the first two and a half hours of a five hour film called “And So It Goes,” directed by Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin. It was opening night of the Tribeca Film Festival.
Weber’s presence triggered questions on the red carpet but most of the press who wrote about it, including People, didn’t really understand who she was or what had happened in the marriage — or after.
Weber’s brother, Frank, was Billy’s business manager back in the 70s and 80s. Billy eventually sued him for $90 million for embezzlement. Of the total, $10 million or so was in actual losses. The case hung on for years and included Billy suing his famous music lawyer, Allen Grubman, for millions because Weber had hired him.
In the end, Billy got about $8 million back. According to the New York Times, Grubman countersued. Those cases were dropped when Sony Music’s Tommy Mottola intervened — Sony was and still is Billy’s label — and paid Joel $3 million to get off Grubman’s back.
Among the people who helped Billy at the same was John Eastman, brother in law and lawyer to Paul McCartney. (Attorney Leonard Marks was the main attorney.) When Eastman died in 2022, Billy wrote on Facebook:
“John Eastman was a dear friend and a great attorney whose representation guided me through difficult legal and financial circumstances. He was fierce when it came to protecting artists rights and I credit him with whatever longevity I have achieved in my career. I was proud to be one of his companions, as well as one of his clients.”
Sort of hidden in the stories about Billy’s divorce from Weber, who’d been married to his bandmate Jon Small prior, is that Elizabeth had a son with Small. Sean Small, 59, was Billy’s stepson for more than a decade during his hitmaker period. He was his mother’s companion to the premiere. It’s amazing we’ve never heard his take on the whole story over the years.
Only Part 1 was shown on Wednesday night, so maybe the whole embezzlement story wasn’t told. I can’t wait to hear the saga.
