Jon Bon Jovi reveals key to 40-year relationship with high school sweetheart Dorothea

Jon Bon Jovi has opened up about his 40-year love story with high school sweetheart Dorothea (Picture: Rex)
Jon Bon Jovi and his wife Dorothea have managed to enjoy the kind of long-lasting love that all the best love songs talk about.

Now, the music icon and his high school sweetheart, both 58, have opened up about the secret to their 40-year romance.

Speaking to People Magazine, the happy couple agreed that ‘mutual respect’ is one of the main reasons why they’ve stayed together for the past four decades.

Jon explained: ‘Having grown up together and grown together. And we really like each other. We want to hang out.’

‘I always said I was good at spotting potential, too. I have a gift,’ Dorothea added.

‘She let me cheat off her in history!,’ the rock star confessed. ‘I was immediately drawn to her from the minute I saw her — and that’s never changed — 40 years ago.’

Some fans will know that the high school sweethearts began dating in 1980 before they tied the knot in 1989.

And they are the proud parents to four children, daughter Stephanie, 27, and sons Jesse, 25, Jacob, 18, and 16-year-old Romeo.

The singer admitted that Dorothea has been his ‘rock’ throughout his career as he told the publication: ‘We work hard at it, 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.’