Lasting nearly 30 years, it’s one of the most enduring marriages in showbusiness and for Jon Bon Jovi and wife Dorothea, their pearl wedding anniversary will prove a particularly poignant moment.
In fact, the singer says he is more in love now than when they said “I do” at Graceland Wedding Chapel, Las Vegas.
“I feel 10 times better today than when we did it back then,” Jon says.
“Looking back on it, the marriage was the greatest deal I ever made.”
Their three decades together next year will be even more of an achievement given their marriage got off to such a rocky start.
Dorothea became public enemy number one when she and Jon, then aged 27 and at the helm of the world’s biggest band, secretly eloped.
It sparked mass hysteria among his female fans who were distraught that the big-haired rocker was finally taken.
“It was like Harry Styles or Justin Timberlake getting married. I was that to the young girls in my time,” Jon says.
“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.”
But that was the least of his worries.
“It didn’t fare well with my mother, either,” he says with a smile. “F*** no. She was not impressed.”
Thankfully, dad-of-four Jon, 56, can now laugh about it as he relaxes in a penthouse suite in Soho, New York.
The band are preparing to embark on another massive world tour, including UK dates next June which are expected to sell out in minutes.
But Jon says the band are lucky to be still going at all given the fallout after he got hitched during a one-day break on 1989’s New Jersey tour.
“America wasn’t happy on that Monday when they found out about the wedding and a lot of people tried to ruin a beautiful thing. They tried to cheat us out of that moment,” he recalls.
For Jon, it was also tricky trying to reconcile being a rock sex-god and a new husband. Before our interview, I watch a grainy interview of him on tour in Australia shortly after news broke that he had got married.
Jon, sat with former guitarist Richie Sambora, squirms when a TV host asks him what it means for his female fans.
“I’m married now so I have to keep it really discreet… It was a bad day, I was very drunk,” he says as Sambora collapses with laughter.
It’s an uncomfortable performance.
But as I bring this up with Jon now, he tells me it was just that – a performance.
Because behind the bravado designed to keep the fans and his bandmates sweet, Jon was desperately in love and determined to make things work.
“Dorothea and I felt good about it despite it being world news,” Jon says.
“She is the rock of my family, my career, my being. I am grateful for someone in my life like that who I can love and trust.”
She was also a stabilising influence during one of the toughest times of his career when the band were burnt out in the wake of the Slippery When Wet tour.
Jon bitterly struggled with depression and, during his lowest moment, briefly thought about ending it all and driving his car off the road.
“The number of shows was insane,” he says.
“Our young team of agents and lawyers were so eager to do their job, they never thought about the human condition of the young lads who needed a break.
“We did 240 shows, went home and immediately started writing and recording New Jersey. We then went back on the road with another 240 shows. It was just too much.”
Jon admits the scars took a long time to heal with the band not talking to each other for two years and coming close to breaking up.
“That’s not the recipe for success if you want a band to live,” he says.
“You can kill them on the road and pressures of writing a follow-up to Slippery. Or you can have faith in them and say, ‘Be cool, it’s going to be all right’. We should have been nurtured and had a year off. It was a difficult time.”
Determined to ensure the band never imploded again, Jon decided to manage them himself – a decision that was widely mocked at the time.
“The industry scoffed and said, ‘You’re dead, you will never survive’,” he says. “I was only 30 but I saw the clarity. I knew what I needed to do.”
Life on tour rolls along at more of a sedate pace these days.
But as Jon returns to the UK for the first time in six years for dates at Anfield, Wembley and Coventry’s Ricoh Arena, the energy to put on a great show still burns strong.
He says he remembers vividly his last visit to Liverpool for the 2007 Royal Variety Show. “Between the soundcheck and show, there was nothing to do… so we started driving around in our smart jackets and ties to try and find John Lennon’s childhood home,” he says.
“To our surprise, we found it and went and knocked on the door. It was all being refurbished and wasn’t open.
“But amazingly they let us in and we all got pictures of us in his childhood bedroom. It was very special memory.”
Another one will be stepping out in front of 50,000 fans for one of the first concerts at Anfield for a decade.
Jon understands the significance of the occasion – not least because he is good pals with Sir Paul McCartney, one of the last to play the iconic stadium more than a decade ago.
They met up last month and Jon shows me pictures on his phone. “Two old men sitting in a rocking chair,” Jon laughs as he scrolls through snaps of the pair relaxing on a veranda following a long lunch, one of maybe “four or five” they enjoy each summer.
“I have always loved the Beatles – my mum had the records and I have been blessed over the years to have become friendly with Paul,” he says.
“I am fortunate to see him every summer. I only address him as Beatle Paul. I don’t address him as Paul.”
As for the Anfield show next June, Jon says: “I will tell him about that. I know he’s performed there too. There isn’t much Paul hasn’t already done.”
Jon says he’s been trying to soak up information about Liverpool FC before the dates next summer.
“I know the team is beloved – at least by the red half of the city – and a lot of people here in the US like them,” he says.
“While I will have to plead the fifth amendment when it comes to football, I’ve heard Liverpool are winning a lot. I know the manager’s a fan too of the band, which is great.”
He has also, he explains, unfinished business at Wembley.
“We closed the old Wembley and were meant to open the new one – I even took a photo in front of the new one,” he says. “I should have gone in and realised it was a construction site.
“I’m still mad at the contractors for not finishing after we sold out two nights and then had to displace 120,000 people. A real heartbreaker.
“It would have been cool to close the old Wembley and open the new one – but it will be good to be back.”
- Bon Jovi play Anfield, Liverpool, June 19; Wembley, London, June 21; and Ricoh Arena, Coventry, June 23 - CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS