Christie Brinkley ignored early signs that daughter Alexa Joel was becoming a troubled, lonely and isolated child, according to her former nanny.
Alzirene Vianna says when she warned Brinkley that Alexa, then 8, seemed “withdrawn” and “angry” following her split with Billy Joel, it “was like talking to a wall.”
Vianna made the bombshell claims in a January 1995 affidavit filed as part of proceedings in Brinkley’s divorce from Joel.
Alexa, now 23, overdosed on pills last Saturday at her downtown apartment but called 911 before she collapsed. Sources told The Post the incident came after Alexa spent a nine-day tropical break with her mom.
In a statement yesterday, Brinkley and Joel said their daughter’s “dangerous actions” came “while suffering a devastating heartbreak.” But the 1995 court papers seen by Page Six detail a tormented relationship between the pair stemming back years.
Vianna, who cared for Alexa from June 1993 to December 1994, said the young girl struggled when she moved to Colorado with Brinkley as the supermodel prepared for her disastrous marriage to Ricky Taubman.
Vianna describes an unstable household torn apart by roaring fights. She said, “Alexa was withdrawing from her friends, and she was spending a lot of time alone in her room, but I felt like I was talking to a wall, because Christie didn’t respond at all.”
She claimed Alexa began “talking to herself” and would “lose her temper much more easily. I was not surprised given all the arguing in the house.”
Brinkley “spent little time with Alexa,” the nanny alleged, noting that “she only seemed to go out with Alexa when she knew reporters were in town.” Brinkley also ruthlessly blasted Joel in front of Alexa and tried to restrict their phone contact, Vianna wrote.
Brinkley’s lawyer has previously dismissed Vianna as a “disgruntled employee” and called the claims “baseless, false and malicious.” Brinkley’s rep did not respond to Page Six last night.