ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 14, 1994                   TAG: 9404140359
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                 LENGTH: Short


REPORT: JOEL, BRINKLEY SPLIT UP AFTER 9 YEARS

Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley are separating after nine years of marriage, CNN reported Wednesday.

The supermodel and her singer-songwriter husband sent a joint statement to Mitchell Fink, a People magazine columnist who contributes to CNN's ``Show Biz Today'' segment.

Further details were not available. Calls from The Associated Press to their representatives late Wednesday were not returned.

The couple has an 8-year-old daughter, Alexa Ray.

Brinkley, 40, survived a serious helicopter crash earlier this month, while ``heliskiing'' with friends near Telluride, Colo. Joel, 44, postponed a concert in Kansas City the next night to accompany his wife back to their Long Island oceanfront estate, outside New York City.

People magazine featured Brinkley on the cover of their April 18 edition. She said the April 1 accident gave her a deeper appreciation of her family.

``Maybe I'll have the patience to be a better mom,'' she told the magazine. ``Maybe I will simplify my life, because at the moment everything is so sweet to me.''

- Associated Press



 by CNB