Rocker Bon Jovi celebrates married life of 36 years with wife, four kids

Defying celebrity marriage trends, rocker Jon Bon Jovi celebrated 36 years of matrimony on Tuesday with a public “happy anniversary” message to his wife.

“36 roses for 36 amazing years. Happy anniversary my love,” he wrote on Instagram, alongside a vase of red roses and a carousel of photos from his relationship with Dorothea, 62.

Bon Jovi, 63, eloped with his high school sweetheart in 1989 while on tour in Los Angeles, People reported, escaping to the Graceland Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas during the band’s “New Jersey” album tour. The chapel’s sign boasts, “Rock star Bon Jovi was married here.” 

The couple now has four children together: daughter Stephanie, 31, and sons Jesse, 30, Jake, 22, and Romeo, 21. At least two of his children are married, People reported. 

In a society rife with divorce and celebrities cycling from relationship to relationship, Bon Jovi’s pro-family orientation is noteworthy. It also proves the point: those who get married younger and stay together longer tend to produce more children. 

The United States is grappling with low fertility rates, which is the total number of children the average woman will bear in her lifetime. It takes a rate of 2.1 to maintain the population but is currently at 1.62.  

The Trump administration is considering ways to boost it, including a controversial proposal to give new mothers $5,000 to help with the expenses of raising a baby. 

While money alone won’t solve the population issue, examples like Bon Jovi’s show a portrait of lasting love and family stability more likely to see children brought into the world, and multiple children. 

Despite fears about divorce, Bon Jovi is showing that love and commitment exist, even for world-famous rock stars, and demonstrating the benefits of marriage and family to younger generations. 

Although he didn’t endorse Trump in the last election, his lifestyle aligns with Trump’s priorities. The president himself has five children and has said, “We need more children in our country.” 

A federal report on how to expand access to in-vitro fertilization, or IVF, is due in mid-May, part of the Republicans’ efforts to increase the number of children being born. Vice President JD Vance, who has three young children, has also said he wants “more babies in the United States of America.”