The most ridiculous and pathetic attack on Billy Joel and his family comes today in the New York Post. The fish wrap tabloid actually suggests that a nine-day family trip to Turks and Caicos pushed Alexa Ray Joel to attempt suicide. They depict Christie Brinkley as a “mommie dearest.”

This is completely untrue and unfounded, say friends.

Indeed, one friend has read me a postcard from Alexa that she wrote on the last day of the trip. It’s upbeat, positive, and even mentions Brinkley. It certainly sounds like they were having a great time. Brinkley even took swimsuit model pics of a glowing, sexy Alexa and sent them to close friends under the title “Bod-icelli.”

“She loves Alexa so much,” says a friend.

Brinkley is not perfect. She has had four bad marriages. There’s no scrubbing that away. But she’s always done two things: had a very good relationship with Billy Joel, and she’s been totally supporting and nurturing with Alexa. In fact, when Brinkley was suffering over the break up with Peter Cook, it was Joel to whom she turned. She went to a barbecue at his house. When Joel played a big luxe concert in East Hampton in the summer of 2007, Christie brought Alexa and son Jack, and cheered Joel on. In May 2007, Christie also came to the Rainforest Foundation show at Carnegie Hall to support both Billy and Alexa.

Not only that: Every show that Alexa has played in New York, no matter how small the club, Brinkley has been front and center. She’s not a stage mom, and doesn’t hog the spotlight. Rather, she’s there for her daughter, helping with hair and makeup, etc.

It’s not outside the realm of possibility that the Post’s unnamed source on all this is, ta da! Peter Cook, Brinkley’s ex. He’d like nothing better than to embarrass both Christie and Alexa, who testified against him in court when Cook was publicly embarrassed.

Even worse: Friends are convinced that Cook has been logging nasty comments using pseudonyms on the web about Brinkley. Cook certainly has a lot of experience using the internet. He admitted in court during his divorce trial that he was addicted to web porn. In October, when he and Brinkley were in another court battle, Cook started posting under his own name and then possibly under others including, possibly, NYnowTELLURIDEthen.

“Those posts are too personal,” says a friend.