Alexa Ray Joel Reflects on Life After Suicide Attempt: “I'm In a Great Place”

Singer Alexa Ray Joel, the daughter of Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley, was in very bad shape last year around this time that made the headlines: She went through a breakup with her boyfriend and then tried to take her own life through sleeping pills.

Now the up-and-coming artist, 24, has spoken publicly about that dark time to the New York Post in an in-depth, candid interview. "I have a flair for the dramatic," she said. "I got caught up in my own head. It was a panic. I didn't want to die.

"I just didn't want to feel what I was feeling at that moment anymore."

Joel described her now ex-boyfriend, Jimmy Riot, whom she split from before the suicide attempt, as her first love, but then later said: "We're not in touch, and I think that's healthy.”

The performer also told the Post that she’s working at her life daily and added that what happened to her created a tighter bond between her divorced famous parents

"I'm in a great place this year, where you start accepting yourself," she said.

Joel’s life has been on the upswing. She recently moved into a new place in Nolita, had surgery done on her nose, and is scheduled to perform a residency at the Oak Room starting on Dec. 20.

Selected Reading: New York Post

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