Christian Slater Has Stories About Billy Joel and Robert De Niro

The 'Dirty John' star tells us the story of the weekend he met his wife—and performed an impromptu song with Billy Joel.

Christian Slater Took a Walk in the Florida Keys, and His Life Changed Ten years ago, Christian Slater took the most significant vacation of his life. He was just past 40, with a canceled ABC series and two direct-to-video releases in his immediate wake. At Little Palm Island, an out-of-the-way resort in the Florida Keys, he met a woman. Her name was Brittany Lopez, and she worked at a large auction house in Miami. "I was smitten, gobsmacked," Slater says. They'd marry three years later.   Quite a trip. But that's only half of it.   Lopez had to return to Miami, and Slater stuck around, "killing time," he says, when a yacht arrived at the resort's marina and off stepped Billy Joel. Slater adores Billy Joel, refers to him as his "idol." They spent the day together, walking around the island, hanging out. Day turned into night, and they ended up at the resort's piano lounge. Another guest recognized Joel and egged him on, suggesting he could no longer play like he once had. Challenge accepted. Joel assumed his place at the piano, Slater stood by his side, and the duet performed "One for My Baby," the Frank Sinatra standard. "It was a magical day," Slater says. "Just a magical, magical day."   Christian Slater is that guy now: a 50-year-old dad who keeps his hair closely cropped, his eyeglass frames sensibly stylish, and his love for Billy Joel undying. He's as excitable as he's ever been, but the subject matter is new, nearly all of it family-focused: BabyBjörns, which he calls "a rather brilliant device"; the gender-reveal party his sister-in-law hosted for the birth of Slater and Lopez's daughter, Lena, who's now nearly one; the virtual graduation party Lopez hosted in May for Eliana, 18, Slater's daughter from his first marriage. (He also has a 21-year-old son.) He dad-jokes that his best friend is his trainer, with whom he works out over FaceTime. He naps when his daughter goes down. Which is all to say that today Christian Slater feels happy and stable, two emotions that eluded him at the peak of his fame. He's been acting for forty-two years—at eight, he landed his first role, as an extra on the soap opera One Life to Live—but the 1989 black comedy Heathers, in which he played a murderous misanthrope opposite Winona Ryder, made him a teen idol. Her, too. "I had a great time working with her," he says of Ryder, "and would like to do something with her again." The following year, his starring role in Young Guns II propelled him onto the short list of Hollywood's Young Elites—Keifer Sutherland and Emilio Estevez, basically. Slater traded blows with Kevin Costner in 1991's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves; in 1993, he and director Tony Scott brought to life Quentin Tarantino's first screenplay, True Romance. With his slick hair and an onscreen magnetism that often drew comparisons to a young Jack Nicholson's, Slater was the kind of star whom everyone wanted to fuck or emulate. He seemed impossibly cool. Read the Full Story Espadrilles Are the Easygoing Shoes That Work Hard All Summer Espadrilles are one of the most stylish ways to ease yourself into the idea of (gasp!) wearing a sandal this summer: If strapping on a pair still feels a bit too out there at the moment (We get you), slip into some espadrilles instead. They are super lightweight and their casual silhouette makes them an ideal shoe for the beach to the boardwalk and everywhere in between. Here, David Burton breaks down the appeal of summer's most laid-back footwear flex. 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For the Summer issue of Esquire, Schoenfield went to Florida to spend time with Gatlin as he prepared for the second big comeback of his career, one he'll be making at age 39, a full year after he'd planned to do it.   Read the Full Story Margo Price Doesn't Care if Country Music Likes Her. She's Leaving it Behind.  The Illinois-native first broke through to the public consciousness in 2016 when her solo debut, Midwest Farmer's Daughter—a bleak, poetic, and surprisingly lovely testimony to hard times—catapulted her to the top of the marquee, and plenty critics' Best Of lists. In the years since, she's toured with the likes of Chris Stapleton and Willie Nelson, collaborated with greats like John Prine, and released a massively lauded follow-up, 2017's All American Made. Her most raucous, and rocking, work yet debuts Friday in the form of the punchy That's How Rumors Get Started. The frenzy hasn't phased her: "The idea of success and money will poison your creative process," she says. "I still look at myself like this outcast and an underdog." Esquire's Madison Vain chatted with Price about navigating a sexist industry, giving birth, dealing with family illness, and putting out one of the best albums of 2020 so far.   Read the Full Story   Follow Us     Unsubscribe  Privacy Notice   esquire.com ©2020 Hearst Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Email Privacy, 300 W 57th St., Fl. 19 (sta 1-1), New York, NY 10019