Still Married to His High School Sweetheart! How Jon Bon Jovi and Wife Dorothea ‘Make It Work’

After three wild decades of fame, Jon Bon Jovi opens up about life on the road – and how he and wife Dorothea keep their love strong.
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Despite decades in the spotlight,
Jon Bon Jovi has managed to remain quite humble. “I don’t know who that guy is,” he says when asked about the larger-than-life, leather wearing rock star he’s perceived to be.
Who he really is, the star tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story, is a devoted family man from small-town New Jersey. That’s all thanks to the rock in his life, high school sweetheart wife of 27 years, Dorothea Hurley Bongiovi.
“She’s the glue,” Bon Jovi, 54, says of his wife and mother of their four children. “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.”
That’s not to say that marriage has always been easy. The couple first met at Sayreville War Memorial High School in their New Jersey hometown. In 1989, at the height of success with Bon Jovi , they eloped to Las Vegas and were married at the hands of an Elvis impersonator.

Bon Jovi has said in the past that he’s no saint and, like all marriages, his has had it’s share of bumps. But throughout it all, Dorothea, 54, who’s known for her smarts and strong will, says “We make it work.” As for how she feels about her husband’s hoards of female fans, “I think it’s great they love the music,” she says. “They love the band and are so loyal.”