Exploring Jon Bon Jovi and Dorothea Hurley marriage as rocker admits he ‘hasn’t been a saint’ in their 34 years together

LONDON, ENGLAND: In a recent interview, Jon Bon Jovi admitted that he hasn't always "been a saint" in his marriage to wife Dorothea Hurley—whom he first met in high school in 1980.

The 62-year-old 'Livin' on a Prayer' hitmaker and his wife are getting ready to celebrate their 35th anniversary; but the rock star concedes that if it weren't for Dorothea's "tolerance," they would not have achieved the milestone.

He told The Independent, "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 [mess] up the home life, either."

Here's a peek into the ups and downs in Jon Bon Jovi and Dorothea Hurley's relationship.

Jon Bon Jovi and Dorothea Hurley married in 1989

The 'You Give Love a Bad Name' singer first met his wife in 1980 while they were both attending Sayreville War Memorial High School in New Jersey.

They did not, however, have an easy journey. They broke up in 1985, and Bon Jovi dated actress Diane Lane at the time, as Lane said on 'Watch What Happens Live.' Soon afterward, he and Dorothea reconciled.

They eloped and got married in the Graceland Chapel in Las Vegas in 1989, three years after he became globally recognized for the band's breakthrough record, 'Slippery When Wet' from 1986, per the New York Post.

The Grammy winner previously admitted to PEOPLE that he fell in love with his wife "the minute" he laid eyes on her. "And that's never changed — 40 years ago," Bon Jovi said in 2020.

"Having grown up together and grown together. And we really like each other. We want to hang out," he told the outlet.

Jon Bon Jovi and Dorothea Hurley became parents to 4 children

The couple welcomed four children between 1993 and 2004: daughter Stephanie, 30, and three sons, Jesse, 29, Jake, 21, and Romeo, 20.

Bon Jovi and Dorothea's first child Stephanie Rose was born in Red Bank, New Jersey, on May 31, 1993. On February 19, 1995, the couple welcomed their son, Jesse James Louis.

On May 7, 2002, Bon Jovi and Dorothea welcomed Jacob 'Jake' Hurley into the world. The couple welcomed their fourth child, Romeo Jon on March 29, 2004, in New Jersey.

Bon Jovi addresses regretting past roadside liaisons in 'Bed of Roses'

Bon Jovi addressed regretting past roadside liaisons in the 1993 song 'Bed of Roses.' In 2007, he clarified that he had to miss "tons of birthdays and school plays" because of his work.

The lyrics go like this: "Now as you close your eyes / Know I’ll be thinking about you / While my mistress she calls me / To stand in her spotlight again / Tonight I won’t be alone / But you know that don’t mean I’m not lonely / I’ve got nothing to prove / For it’s you that I’d die to defend."

"I don’t look at this week’s hot starlet and think about trading in or trading up," Bon Jovi said in an interview with Best Life Magazine in 2007.

"I don’t have a mistress on the side or another family across town. You’re never going to read that story about me. I have no regard for that whole lifestyle."

"I've been in one of the biggest rock bands in the world for 25 years, and I'm not a saint, and I have not been a saint," he revealed to Best Life magazine, per Daily Mail.

"It's not like Dorothea came in halfway through the movie and didn't know who she got," he added.

Hurley told PEOPLE in November 2016, "Somehow it works. I think because we grow at the same rate. We grew equally and not in opposite directions."

"She’s the glue," he interjected. "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."

Bon Jovi acknowledged in the Independent interview that "a mutual admiration society, and being lucky enough to have grown up together" were the reasons the couple's marriage endured, but she also took some responsibility for her tolerance.

Jon Bon Jovi opens up about other rock star cliches like drugs

The Grammy winner also discussed drugs in the Independent interview, another commonality of rock celebrities. After a life-changing event that left him with newfound insight, Bon Jovi stated that he had never been interested in using drugs.

"It was smoking something that was laced with something else, and I remember feeling out-of-body high and thinking, ‘I don’t like this. I don’t feel comfortable with this," he admitted, per the New York Post.

"It was scary, and I was so young that I was glad I had that sort of ‘scared straight’ moment," he added.