The pair wed in 2015 — marking Joel's fourth marriage. Roderick and the "Piano Man" singer went on to welcome daughters Della Rose and Remy Anne. The former competitive equestrian is also a stepmom to Joel's eldest daughter, Alexa Ray, whom he shares with ex-wife Christie Brinkley. (People)
The couple have been together for over a decade and prefer to keep their relationship private. Even their 2015 summer wedding was a surprise to family and friends.
In his New Yorker profile, Joel recalled the night he first met Roderick or "A-Rod," as he affectionately calls her. He and Roderick were each with a group of friends at a restaurant in Huntington, New York.
Not being able to take his eyes off her, Joel went over and introduced himself. He left Roderick's table with her number. At the end of his meal, Joel called Roderick while he was still sitting across the room from her and asked if she could drive him home.
Despite his confidence in the restaurant, Roderick wasn't immediately smitten.
She drove Joel back to his home on Centre Island, a peninsula on Long Island's North Shore, and when he offered to play her something on the piano, she turned him down — but that didn't stop Joel. "It was like he couldn't not be 'Billy Joel' at that moment," Roderick told the New Yorker.
Joel played a piece by Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff on his grand piano, a move he picked up from the 1955 romantic comedy The Seven Year Itch. His ploy seemed to have worked because they soon started dating and not too long after, Roderick moved into Joel's Centre Island home. Roderick is a former executive at Morgan Stanley. However, she left the industry shortly before marrying Joel in 2015.
At every show, he never sells front-row tickets. In fact, he leaves the first few rows unsold. But that doesn’t mean those seats remain empty.
“About 25 years ago, I got tired of looking down [at the crowd],” Joel explained during a 2017 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. “The first-row tickets are always scalper tickets — always somebody who paid way too much money to be a big shot, sit in the front row.”
Roderick is an accomplished equestrian. She used to compete competitively and is an active member of the United States Equestrian Federation.
In 2018, Joel gifted her with a five-acre horse ranch in Wellington, Florida, a prominent equestrian community, per the Daily Mail. The estate features a 12-stall barn with groom quarters, a tack room, five paddocks and a regulation-size dressage ring with mirrors.
Now, Roderick rides recreationally and it looks like her daughters are beginning to follow in their mom's footsteps. In birthday tributes for Della and Remy on Instagram, Joel included photos of the girls in their professional riding attire and at the competition track.
Joel's second wife, Brinkley, offered her best wishes to the couple following their surprise wedding. "Congratulations to the glowing bride and groom. And to my daughter, Alexa, who has a wonderful friend in Alexis! Wishing the growing family every happiness!" the model wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of the bride and groom.
