Friends were ‘shocked’ when I married wife Dorothea

Music

By means of Nadine Bourne

Does he give love a bad name?

Singer and songwriter Jon Bon Jovi said his inner circle was quite surprised when he eloped with his wife, Dorothea Hurley, 30 years ago.

“It shocked a lot of people — shocked everyone: the band, management, agents, lawyers, parents, you name it,” he recently recalled to People magazine. “It’s a shame because it was supposed to be a beautiful moment, but after we did it, people tried to take it away until I stood up and said, ‘Wait a minute, why are we living our lives for someone else?’ And 35 years later we are still married.”

The 62-year-old, born John Francis Bongiovi Jr., made the last-minute decision to marry his then-fiancée while he was on tour at the time.

“We were in Los Angeles, California, the band was on the road on the ‘New Jersey’ tour, and if you opened the curtains of my hotel room, there was a big billboard with the five of us (Bon Jovi band members). I was staring through my window,” Bon Jovi continued. “My girlfriend, who was my fiancée at the time, had the night off and I said, ‘I need a higher high – I have an idea. Now let’s go to Vegas.’ And she said, ‘Now?’ I said, ‘Now.’”

The “Living on a Prayer” singer first met his wife when they were students at Sayreville War Memorial High School in New Jersey. The couple dated until 1985, when they broke up for five months before getting back together.

The couple married in 1989 at Graceland Chapel in Las Vegas and have four children together: daughter Stephanie, 30, and sons Jesse, 29, Jake, 21, and Romeo, 20.

Speaking to the Mirror, the rock star said: ‘It was like Harry Styles or Justin Timberlake getting married.

“That’s what I was to the young girls of my time. When I got back from Vegas my manager was furious. He said: ‘America’s son is now married… that’s not a good career move.’ The record company was also despondent.”

In a recent interview, Bon Jovi told the Independent that he “hasn’t been a saint” during their 35 years of marriage.

“These are all wonderful rock star clichés. “It’s about never lying about being a saint, but also about not being foolish enough to ruin family life,” he said.

Rumors and accusations that the rock star was having an affair began circulating in 1993. Bon Jovi addressed these rumors in the hit single ‘Bed of Roses’.

In the song he sings, “Now that you close your eyes/ Know that I’ll be thinking of you/ While my mistress calls me/ To be back in her spotlight/ Tonight I won’t be alone/ But you know that Don’t mean I I’m not lonely/ I have nothing to prove/ Because it’s you I’d like to defend.”

The musician told the Independent that his marriage has lasted so long thanks to “a society of mutual admiration and the happiness of growing up together.” He also credited his wife’s tolerance.

“Somehow it works. I think because we are growing at the same pace. We have grown equally and not in opposite directions,” Dorothea told People in November 2016.

The Grammy winner said he and his wife “got it right the first time” as they reminisced about their love story.

The duo founded the JBJ Soul Foundation in 2006, a nonprofit organization that specializes in creating affordable housing and providing meals to those in need.

Dorothea has been by his side through the ups and downs over the years. In 2022, Bon Jovi underwent vocal cord surgery after suffering from an atrophied voice.

“What gave me so much joy was taken away,” he told People. “Joy is something you have to work at, right? Happiness is what you make of it. It’s no longer about seizing the day. I think it’s about embracing the day. I don’t have to punch him in the face anymore, now I just give him a hug, and that’s a good place to be.

At the beginning of February, the singer took the stage for the first time since the operation after being named MusiCares Person of the Year.

“Although I’m well on the road to recovery and was able to take the time to do a song every day when I made the record,” the “Wanted Dead or Alive” crooner told Mix 104.1 Boston in March, “my need, want, desire is to be able to do two and a half hours a night, four evenings a week, for months.

Bon Jovi’s latest work, a docuseries called “Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story,” will be released on Hulu on Friday, April 26.

The four-part series highlights “the epic past and uncertain future of one of the most recognizable bands in the world and its frontman Jon Bon Jovi.”