Billy Joel’s marriage and divorce lessons

It’s official: Billy Joel, 60, and his 27-year-old wife Katie Lee are Splitsville (see story).

While I know that most men (especially those nearing or over 50) think it’s badass that Billy married a woman 33 years his junior (and just four years older than his daughter), I’m not impressed.

Billy Joel and Katie Lee in happier times.

I think their marriage was a recipe for divorce.

Katie is young, hot and, thanks to Billy’s celeb status, she’s running with some pretty powerful and fabulous people. It’s hard for the blue-collar Piano Man to compete with young, stylish studs like Yigal Azrouel, the fashion designer that a number of sources have Katie canoodling with.

It happens that way in the ‘real’ world too. Older man marries younger woman hoping for exciting sex life/renewed youthful vigor/jealous stares from other old guys and then finds out that she was only sticking around for his money/stature/private jet.

Some people might argue that age is just a number and these failed relationships fail because the couple isn’t compatible in a dozen other ways — that have nothing to do with age.

But surely age has a lot to do with common marital conflicts — like when and whether to have children, why your old, tired spouse doesn’t like to go out any more and what’s going to happen when you turn from hot wife to nursemaid.

So what’s the rule of thumb when marrying much younger (or much older, as the case may be)?

My mom heard some radio DJs who claim the rule is this: the youngest you can go is half your age plus seven. Billy should have stuck with 37-year-olds apparently.

And maybe for marrying older you could reverse the formula: double your age minus seven. That puts my old-guy ceiling at 45.

The problem is we all know those couples who seem to defy the rules. Woody and Soon-Yi (ew). Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas.

There are non-celeb examples too. Take my friend who just married a woman who’s closer in age to his teenage daughter than to him. He isn’t rich or particularly powerful, so I have to believe she’s in it for love. And it helps that she doesn’t want kids, just the pleasure of his company for as long as they both shall live.

I asked my friend once how they handled the age difference. He said she was so much more mature than him that the age didn’t matter. And it helped that his daughter adored her.

Not that daughters are a good indicator. Billy Joel’s daughter Alexis apparently liked Katie enough to be her maid of honor.

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