Before the anniversary of their wedding, Jon Bon Jovi is reflecting on the fact that he and his wife Dorothea Bongiovi skipped out on their wedding.
In April of 1989, the leader of Bon Jovi, who was 62 at the time, and his high school girlfriend Dorothea, who was 61 at the time, sealed the wedding. This was five years after he attained popularity for the first time with the band’s breakthrough hit, “Runaway.”
The band Bon Jovi remembers making a split-second choice to get married when they were “enjoying a moment” while he was on tour at the time. This decision was made despite the fact that their big hit Slippery When Wet and New Jersey had achieved tremendous popularity.
“We were in Los Angeles, California, and the band was on the road on the New Jersey tour. If you opened up the curtains of my hotel room, there’s a big billboard of the five of us [Bon Jovi band members] staring into my window,” Bon Jovi remembers. “We were in the middle of the New Jersey tour.” I had a night off with my girlfriend, who was also my fiancée at the time, and I told her, “I need a higher high — I got an idea.” Are you ready to travel to Las Vegas? ‘Now?’ she asked in response. The answer was “Now.”
“We were in Los Angeles, California, and the band was on the road on the New Jersey tour. If you opened up the curtains of my hotel room, there’s a big billboard of the five of us [Bon Jovi band members] staring into my window,” Bon Jovi remembers. “We were in the middle of the New Jersey tour.” I had a night off with my girlfriend, who was also my fiancée at the time, and I told her, “I need a higher high — I got an idea.” Are you ready to travel to Las Vegas? ‘Now?’ she asked in response. The answer was “Now.”
As a result, the young couple made their way to Sin City, where, according to his recollection, “the taxi driver was our witness” as they exchanged their vows.
Following the dissemination of the information to the general public, “it shocked a lot of people — shocked about everybody: the band, management, agents, lawyers, parents, everything you can think of.” Bon Jovi comes to mind. “It’s unfortunate because it ought to have been a beautiful moment, but after we performed it, people were attempting to take it away from us. It wasn’t until I stood up and asked, ‘Wait a minute, why are we living our life for anyone else?'” And here we are, still married after 35 years of marriage.”
The Grammy winner, who chronicles their love story in his new Hulu docuseries, Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, which will be available to watch on Friday, April 26, adds that when he looks back, “we got it right the first time.”
Stephanie, who is now 30 years old, Jesse, who is 29 years old, Jake, who is 21 years old, and Romeo, who is 20 years old, are the four children that the couple has raised together. Over the years, they have had a lot of joyful experiences together. Moreover, in the year 2006, they collaborated to establish the JBJ Soul Foundation, a charitable organization that not only gives meals to people who are in need but also builds inexpensive homes.
In addition, Dorothea has been there for Bon Jovi through those challenging moments, including the recent vocal chord difficulties that came dangerously close to stealing his voice. In order to ease the loose vocal folds that were impairing his performance and almost forcing him into retirement, he had surgery on his vocal cords.
