Rocker Jon Bon Jovi said his decision to elope with his wife, Dorothea Hurley, more than three decades ago generated a strong reaction from people in his inner circle, and that it was not all good.
"It shocked a lot of people — shocked about everybody: the band, management, agents, lawyers, parents, you name it," he told People magazine. "It's a shame because it should have been a beautiful moment, but after we did it, people were trying to take it away, until I stood up and went, 'Wait a minute, why are we living our life for anyone else?' And 35 years later, we're still married."
The "Living on a Prayer" singer, 62, met his wife while they were students at Sayreville War Memorial High School in New Jersey. They dated until 1985, when they broke up for five months before reuniting and getting engaged. While on tour, Bon Jovi decided to marry Hurley.
"We were in Los Angeles, California, the band was on the road on the 'New Jersey' tour, and 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," he told People. "My girlfriend, who was my fiancée at the time, we had a night off, and I said, 'I need a higher high — I got an idea. Let's go to Vegas now.' And she said, 'Now?' I said, 'Now.'"
They got married at the Graceland Chapel in Las Vegas in 1989 and have four children together: daughter Stephanie, 30, and sons Jesse, 29, Jake, 21, and Romeo, 20.
In a recent interview with the Mirror, Bon Jovi said their impromptu wedding was "like Harry Styles or Justin Timberlake getting married."
"I was that to the young girls in my time," he said. "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."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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