Jon Bon Jovi Recalls How Everyone Was 'Shocked' When He Eloped

On paper, it doesn't sound so outlandish. A 27-year-old rock star, at the height of his fame, elopes with his girlfriend at the Graceland Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, which famously conducts weddings with Elvis impersonators. Yet, when Jon Bon Jovi secretly wed his high school sweetheart Dorothea Hurley in 1989, he now recalls how everyone was "shocked."

The 62-year-old is opening up about the ups and downs of his 35-year marriage (the couple celebrates their 35th anniversary on April 29) to People ahead of the release of his his Hulu docuseries, Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story on April 26.

"We were in Los Angeles, California, the band was on the road on the New Jersey tour, and if you opened up the curtains of my hotel room, there’s a big billboard of the five of us [Bon Jovi band members] staring into my window," Bon Jovi told the outlet. “My girlfriend, who was my fiancée at the time, we had a night off, and I said, ‘I need a higher high—I got an idea. Let’s go to Vegas now.’ And she said, ‘Now?’ I said, ‘Now.'"

This was about five years after the band skyrocketed to fame with the release of their first single, "Runaway," and following their fourth studio album, 1988's New Jersey. Bon Jovi recalled that the nuptials were so spontaneous that their taxi driver served as their witness.

"It shocked a lot of people—shocked about everybody: the band, management, agents, lawyers, parents, you name it," he said, recalling the reaction once the news went public."

"It's a shame because it should have been a beautiful moment, but after we did it, people were trying to take it away, until I stood up and went, ‘Wait a minute, why are we living our life for anyone else?’" the rocker continued. "And 35 years later, we're still married."

In the end, Bon Jovi says "we got it right the first time." And indeed, in addition to their enduring marriage, the couple share four children together; Stephanie, 30, Jesse, 29, Jake, 21, and Romeo, 20. 

"What really matters in a life?" he added. "It's love and loyalty and finding things that make you want to get up out of bed in the morning."