I enjoy listening to the songs of Billy Joel just as much as the next person. But the big cease-and-desist button in my brain wouldn’t stop ringing when I heard that the legendary Piano Man announced that he was set to wed Katie Lee Joel, who is 33 years his junior. The crooner was 55 and she was 23 when they tied the knot five years ago at his home in Oyster Bay, NY. We’re actually surprised they lasted 5 years!

So, gee, where did Billy Joel go wrong? You’d think he would have learned a few things after his second marriage to supermodel Christine Brinkley, but I guess you just can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Word on the street was that Joel was becoming increasingly pissed at the amount of time his young wife was spending on the town with her (male) fashion designer pal.

A source close to the couple reports that “it really was just an age thing. She loves the city, she loves to go out and have fun and he prefers to stay at home.” Shocker!! When he isn’t on tour, the 60 year-old singer reportedly enjoys playing around with his motorcycle collection and sailing his yachts at his home in Long Island. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it must have gotten pretty tedious for his 23 year-old bride.

Since the couple signed a pre-nupital agreement, Katie will just likely end up getting the couple’s Greenwich Village townhouse, which was purchased for $59 million. Not too shabby, eh?

I am going to contradict myself a little by saying that there IS hope for couples with huge age differences. Check ‘em out:

  • Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas – 25 years apart. We all thought it was weird, but Zeta-Jones is too much of a class act to marry for money. The couple share a home, a birthday, and two children. 
  • Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart – 22 years apart. Time has definitely tested the power couple and has proved that they are legit. They have been together since 2002, but seem to be in no rush to get married. 
  •  Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher – 15 years apart. The two Twittering-celebs met over dinner back in 2003 and have been steadily going strong. They married back in 2005 and seem to be one big, happy family with Moore’s kids and ex-hubby, Bruce Willis.

So, what can we learn from these couples? I suppose that we can learn one important lesson from the “Piano Man” and his more successfully-coupled celebrity counterparts: sure, age is just a number, EXCEPT when you’re marrying a 23 year-old kid.