“There are all these wonderful clichés of rock stardom. It’s about never lying that you were a saint, but also not being such a fool as to destroy your home,” he told the Independent, adding that his marriage lasted so long thanks to his wife’s patience and tolerance for his infidelities.
He met Dorothea Hurley when they were students in high school in New Jersey. “I was instantly drawn to her from the moment I first saw her. Nothing has changed,” Jon Bon Jovi told People magazine in 2020.
In 1989, they were married in Las Vegas. “That’s when I said, ‘Dorothy, I have an idea. Why don’t we get married now?’ She told me I was crazy, but I told her, ‘Why not? What’s better than this?’ So we went to Las Vegas and didn’t tell anyone,” he revealed.
When the news of the marriage got out, it shocked many people including the band, management, agents, lawyers and parents. Most of them didn’t give marriage much of a chance, and crowds of female fans were drowning in tears.
“It was like Harry Styles or Justin Timberlake getting married. I was for girls then, as they are now. When I got back from Vegas, my manager was pissed. He said, ‘You are married. This is not a good career move.’ The same record company, she was desperate,” recalls the singer.
Dorothea Hurley told People magazine that their relationship works because they are growing at a pace together. Bon Jovi added that his wife is like the glue that always holds everything together.
Jon Bon Jovi with his wife Dorothea, son Jake and his fiancee Millie Bobby Brown (March 2024)
However, their marriage was not always idyllic. They broke up in 1985, during which time Bon Jovi dated actress Diane Lane for five months. But then they got back together.
The couple have four children together. Sons Jesse (29), Jake (21) and Romeo (20) and daughter Stephanie (30). The star of the series Stranger Things, actress Millie Bobby Brown, who got engaged to Jake Bongiovi in April of last year, will soon be joining the family.
