Willie Nelson's Family Reflects on 1991 Death of His Son Billy in New Docuseries: 'It Was Terribly Hard'

Country legend Willie Nelson is a proud dad to a large brood — but in 1991, he was devastated by the death of his son Billy.

Billy was just 33 years old when he died by suicide on Christmas Day, and in the new Paramount+ documentary series Willie Nelson & Family (streaming now), Nelson’s inner circle opens up about the ways in which the tragedy sent shockwaves through the family.

“He really was a wonderful guy, but it’s hard to be in Texas when your dad’s Willie Nelson. You can’t get away from it,” said Paula, the singer's daughter with third wife Connie Koepke. “When Billy passed, it was terribly hard on him — on all of us. It was really hard for him because that was his first son.”

Billy was found dead at his log cabin home in Davidson County, Tennessee, and officials said he was legally drunk at the time of his death, which was around 2 a.m., according to a 1992 story published in PEOPLE.

Friend Buddy Frank had visited him just hours before, on Christmas Eve, and told PEOPLE that Billy — an occasional musician with plans to release an album of original gospel songs — had been forward-thinking, getting himself a haircut and buying new pants and boots.

In the docuseries, Billy’s sister Lana said her brother suffered from depression: “He didn’t want to be depressed, he didn’t want to be that guy. He tried really hard, he did.”

Sister Susie added that she and Billy were just 17 months apart, and were inseparable (Nelson shared Billy, Lana and Susie with his first wife Martha).

“We did everything together, but he had a lot of issues,” she said. “They became more and more.”

Nelson’s business manager Mark Rothbaum, meanwhile, said that Billy took issue with the way his father had been treated, and felt as though he’d “been exploited too often by too many people. Life was hard for him.”

In the docuseries, Nelson talks about the loss only briefly, saying, “Those were bad times” when speaking about his busy 1992, which aside from the fallout of Billy’s death, also included struggles with the IRS and a grueling performance schedule.

In spite of the tragedy, Nelson’s late sister Bobbie found a silver lining, saying in the docuseries that she and her brother “grew even closer” after Billy’s death.

“It’s not that we had long talks about our grief — that’s not Willie’s way,” she said. “We didn’t have to talk about it. We knew.”

Willie Nelson & Family finds the icon looking back on the extraordinary highs (platinum- and gold-selling albums, worldwide tours and strong family ties) and dark lows (affairs, divorce, loss and money and health struggles) he's experienced over the past 90 years.

Presented by MTV Entertainment Studios, 101 Studios, Blackbird Presents Films and Sight Unseen, the series was filmed throughout the country and features insights from not only Willie himself, but also his children, his wife Annie D'Angelo, his former loves, his late sister Bobbie Nelson (who died at age 91 in 2022), his fellow musicians and his lifelong friends.