AFTER nine years of dating, Jon Bon Jovi and Dorothea Hurley walked down the aisle in a surprise wedding ceremony.
The Grammy Award winner admitted his and his wife’s decision to elope “shocked a lot of people.”
Who is Jon Bon Jovi’s wife, Dorothea Hurley?
Born on September 29, 1962, Dorothea Hurley-Bongiovi is an American karate instructor and restauranteur from Middlesex County, New Jersey.
Dorothea and Jon Bon Jovi are the co-founders of JBJ Soul Foundation and JBJ Soul Kitchen.
JBJ Soul Kitchen has locations in the Red Bank and Newark areas of New Jersey.
On April 29, 1989, Jon and Dorothea tied the knot in a spur-of-the-moment Las Vegas wedding ceremony.
“It shocked a lot of people, shocked about everybody,” the rock music superstar recalled.
Jon told People: “The band, management, agents, lawyers, parents, you name it.
“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. We got it right the first time.”
He added: “We work hard at it [marriage], but we enjoy each other and we never fell for the trappings of what celebrity can do.
“We’ve witnessed that happen over the years to people that were close to us and people that we knew from afar.
“It’s just what I do, it’s not who I am. I write songs. I happen to be very good at performing them, that’s it.”
2
How did Jon and Dorothea meet?
Jon and Dorothea met while they were both students at Sayreville War Memorial High School.
According to the longtime couple, it was love at first sight.
Jon told People: “I was immediately drawn to her from the minute I saw her and that never changed.”
The pair started dating in 1980 and were on-again, off-again for years until they married.
Who are Jon and Dorothea’s children?
Jon and Dorothea are parents to four children.
On May 31, 1993, they became parents for the first time when they welcomed their daughter Stephanie.
The couple also has three sons named Jesse, Jake, and Romeo.
Their son Jake is engaged to Stranger Things actress Millie Bobby Brown.