Trish Bergin broke Billy Joel's heart when she snubbed his marriage proposal nine years ago - but the "Piano Man" still holds a place in his heart for the sexy TV newswoman.
Joel, touring North America with Elton John, took a break this week to rousingly endorse Bergin, a part-time anchor on Cablevision' s News-12, who's mulling a run for the Suffolk County legislative district seat being vacated by Cameron Alden.

"I would vote for Trish Bergin in a heartbeat," Joel told Page Six. "She's always had the best interests of Long Island in mind, and she was always very well-informed about our important local issues."

His glowing praise shows how time heals all wounds. The six-time Grammy winner and the blond Ronkonkoma native were set up by Joel's ex-wife, Christie Brinkley, after he split from artist Carolyn Beegan. But it ended sadly when Bergin spurned his marriage proposal, some say because she wanted more privacy. They briefly reconciled, but then Trish turned up at Joel's home unexpectedly and found him in bed with an unidentified woman.

Later, she hooked up with nipple-pierced neurologist Sean Kenniff, which infuriated Joel, who referred to him as a "paskudnyak" - Yiddish for a contemptible person. Some even blamed Bergin for Joel's drinking problems. "You hear, 'Trish Bergin broke Billy Joel's heart and now he's in rehab,'" Bergin told The Post in 2002. "You don't go into rehab because you have a broken heart. You go because you want to get something straightened out."

Bergin, who was also a reporter at WCBS/Channel 2, is now wed to environmental lawyer Randy Weichbrodt. Joel wed third wife Katie Lee in 2004. Bergin told us if she runs, a top issue will be Long Island's taxes. "They are outrageously high, and I want to do something about it," she said.