Inside Jon Bon Jovi's 35-year marriage that inspires son and Millie Bobby Brown
The veteran rocker has been with his wife since high school and they're now celebrating their children getting married.
Jon Bon Jovi recently welcomed Millie Bobby Brown into his family as his new daughter-in-law - and as the veteran rocker has been married for 35 years, he's sure to have plenty of advice on what makes a happy relationship.
Not only did his son Jake marry the Stranger Things star in May, but another of his sons, Jesse, has also married and his daughter Stephanie is planning her wedding.
Bon Jovi married his high school sweetheart Dorothea Hurley back in 1989 after the couple first got together in 1980 and he admits the next generation of Bongiovis are looking to their parents as "examples of what worked".
Here's how their romance has played out over the decades.
High school sweethearts
Way back before Bon Jovi found worldwide superstardom, Jon Bon Jovi and Dorothea Hurley fell in love after being in history class together during high school.
Bon Jovi told The Guardian: "I just got it right the first time. I was blessed to have known her since we were kids and I couldn’t have ever imagined life any differently."
He also revealed the sweet note Dorothea had passed him during a class that started the romance in an interview on The Kelly Clarkson Show. The note read: "John, write a sequel to Bobby’s Girl but name it She’s Johnny’s Now. Love, Dot."
The star explained: "There was a song I had written called Bobby’s Girl. It was one of the first original songs I had written. She was dating my buddy Bobby. He went off to join the service as did my other two best friends. They joined the Navy. And it was my senior year of high school, and I just fell in love."
Surprise wedding
The couple had been together for years before Bon Jovi hit the big time, but the rocker admitted that when they eloped in 1989 it went down pretty badly with his record company.
"It was like Harry Styles or Justin Timberlake getting married," he told The Mirror in 2018. "I was that to the young girls in my time. When I came back from Vegas my manager was furious. He was like, 'America's boy is now married… that's not a good career move.' The record company was also despondent."
Proud parents
However, the couple are still going strong after 35 years of marriage and are proud parents to four children - with three of them having found the loves of their lives, too.
Their children are daughter Stephanie, 31, and sons Jesse, 29, Jake, 22, and Romeo, 20.
Although Bon Jovi clearly loves being a dad, he admitted to Men's Health in 2010: "I'm not a saint, and I have not been a saint. I missed tons of birthdays and school plays. ... [Dorothea has] been in it the whole game. She understands what it means. It's my life, and it is what it is."
Secrets of a happy marriage
Bon Jovi recently left some fans a little shocked when he told ABC's Michael Strahan: "I’m a rock ‘n’ roll star, I’m not a saint. You know, I’m not saying that there weren’t 100 girls in my life — I’m Jon Bon Jovi. It was pretty good."
He's since clarified that he would never have done anything to jeopardise his marriage and what he actually meant was that there were many female fans "throwing themselves" at him.
The couple have often spoken about their blissfully happy marriage, with Dorothea telling People in 2016: "Somehow it works. I think because we grow at the same rate. We grew equally and not in opposite directions." Her famous husband added: "She's the glue...I'm the crazy visionary with all kinds of things flying, and the seams are all splitting. She's the one following me with the glue and the thread and needle, keeping it all together."
They spoke to People again in 2020 when Bon Jovi revealed their secret: "We really like each other. We want to hang out."
'Examples of what worked'
Bon Jovi is embracing his new chapter as a father-in-law, saying he was happy to be a good role model to the young couples.
He told PA news agency: "Two of my sons have been married in the last couple of weeks, and I have a daughter who’s engaged to be married so we’re getting discounts on tuxedos in our house.
"Advice? Not necessarily. I think that all the kids have been looking, fortunately for us, to their parents and us as examples of what worked.
"And so we’re excited for them."
Bon Jovi also spoke about his new music, including single Brown Eyed Girl which he wrote in tribute to Dorothea after she supported him through throat surgery.
"I think the big key of it is that we grew together," he said. "We went to school together as children. We met in high school, I was 18, she was 17, and so no matter what challenges there were, we lived through them together.
"We come from the same place, we had the same ideas, the same ideals, the same values. So with all of that, it made it easier to understand each other. I think that’s integral."
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