Billy Joel’s daughter Alexa Ray Joel is proud he is taking his health seriously.
“He’s doing physical therapy regularly and he’s doing great. He’s lost weight as he’s on his diet,” the singer-songwriter told the Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Thursday. “I’m so proud of him. He’s such a trooper, so resilient and committed to being healthy and proactive. He’s a fighter. He’s always been a fighter and talks in his documentary about how life’s like a fight.”
The “Piano Man” singer, who was the subject of the two-part HBO documentary “Billy Joel: And So It Goes,” revealed in May that he had been diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus, or NPH, a disorder caused by a buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricles of the brain. According to a statement shared at the time, Joel’s condition was affecting his hearing, vision and balance, and doctors recommended he refrain from performing for a while.
Joel previously shared some encouraging updates about his condition in July.
“I know a lot of people are worried about me and my health, but I’m okay,” he told People. “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.”
“I feel good,” he said during an appearance on Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast. “They keep referring to what I have as a brain disorder, so it sounds a lot worse than what I’m feeling.”
Alexa Ray, Joel’s daughter with ex-wife Christie Brinkley, also shared that her father had downplayed his infamous fall during a performance of “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” at a show last year in Connecticut to keep her from worrying.
“When I saw the footage, I was crying,” she said. “But then I went with him to the doctors, and we’re on top of everything. I just tell him to stay healthy.”
On Thursday, Billy soaked in the love at a sold-out concert in honor of him and his music at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Performers included Alexa Ray, Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, Pat Monahan of Train, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Itzhak Perlman, Wyclef Jean and Rufus Wainwright.
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