Alexa Ray Joel still mourning grandmother's death

Alexa Ray Joel fought back tears at a heart disease charity event in New York this week (beg04Fab13) as the evening brought back sad memories of her late grandmother.

Marge Brinkley, mother of Billy Joel's model mum Christie Brinkley, passed away in September (12) after suffering a series of debilitating strokes and heart attacks, and her granddaughter attended the Heart Truth Red Dress Collection Fashion Show in her honour on Wednesday (06Feb13).

Joel has now revealed she is still missing her grandmother five months after her passing, and she became overwhelmed with emotion during the show, which was held in aid of The Heart Truth campaign to raise awareness of heart disease in women.

She tells New York Post gossip column Page Six, "I almost got a little choked up. My grandmother just passed on, and she had a number of strokes and heart attacks. She really went through the mill, and she's one of my heroes... She fought it tooth and nail with a smile on her face. I don't know how she did it."