Jon Bon Jovi has often admitted he was “no saint” at the height of his career as the temptations of being one of the world’s biggest rock stars surrounded him.

That’s despite being married to wife Dorothea Hurley since 1989, after they began dating in high school nine years earlier.

So what’s the secret to the longevity of their marriage? According to the singer, it’s Dorothea herself.

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“I got away with murder,” Bon Jovi said during ABC’s Halfway There special this week. “I'm a rock and roll star – I’m not a saint. You know, I’m not saying that there weren’t 100 girls in my life. I’m Jon Bon Jovi. It was pretty good.”

He continued: “But if you think I was ever going to jeopardize anything for believing the narcissist in me was real… What a stupid thing to do. What kind of excess does a man need that’s going to fuel that fire? It’s just not worth it.”

While he’s touched on such matters before, he’s never fully explained the mechanics of how he and Dorothea used to deal with them. “There is no doubt in my mind that this world revolves because of her,” he reflected in the new interview. “Because of what she did to keep the kids right, what she does to keep me right, what we do together to keep it right. No doubt about it.”

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He added: “She’s certainly not afraid to call me out on something, but she’s also there when I fall. And I’m there for her when she falls. No matter where I went in my career, the ups or the downs, we went there together.”

In a recent interview with the Independent, Bon Jovi summarised the issue by saying: “These are all the wonderful cliches of rock stardom. It’s about never lying about having been a saint, but not being a fool enough to fuck up the home life, either.”

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