Billy Joel’s daughter Della’s godfather is Gov. Andrew Cuomo, he reveals in new interview
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, left, interviewed Billy Joel for the June issue of Beach magazine. Credit: Getty Images / Slaven Vlasic
Billy Joel and Gov. Andrew Cuomo talk about their shared love of pasta, boating and “feeling anonymous” in a new interview with Beach magazine.
Cuomo jokes that he is interviewing the Hicksville native in his “official capacity” as governor, while also revealing that Joel has cooked dinner for him and that he is the godfather of Joel’s daughter, Della Rose, who turns 1 in August.
“Is it a coincidence that you named an Italian godfather or do you think it was necessary to actually fulfill the role with an Italian?” Cuomo asked Joel, laughing.
“Well, a godfather is very important in the Italian tradition,” said Joel in the magazine’s June issue. “The role of a godfather is very important for a child and for a family, and I think I can depend on my godfather. That’s why I named you her godfather.”
Joel said he enjoys being on the water because he feels like “just another schmuck with a boat” when he’s out. “There is nothing particularly ‘celebrity’ about it,” he said. “I become somewhat anonymous, and I find that it’s basically me and the elements, which I quite enjoy.”
“It is nice to be anonymous once in a while,” Cuomo responded. “My boat does the same for me.”
Cuomo also asked Joel where on Long Island he would take a visitor. “I would take them to the part of the North Shore of Long Island that’s sometimes called the Gold Coast, which goes through Nassau County into Suffolk from about Great Neck east to Huntington,” Joel said. “It’s a beautiful area . . . I’d also like to show them the South Fork. A lot of people refer to it as the Hamptons, but it’s not just the Hamptons . . . [also] the North Fork, which is still very rural.”
Joel will play Madison Square Garden on Friday as part of his ongoing residency at the arena, having wrapped a string of stadium shows on the West Coast last week. His tour of East Coast and Midwestern stadiums starts July 1 in Pittsburgh and will include shows at Boston’s Fenway Park and Chicago’s Wrigley Field.
