The tragic story of Stephanie, the daughter of Jon Bon Jovi
Jon Bon Jovi seems to have a perfect life. But not all is gold that glitters for the rock star.
The singer and his band have been rocking for more than 40 years, they have sold more than 130 million copies, he is a millionaire, handsome, has great hair and, in addition, he is pleasant, generous and committed. When Jon Bon Jovi is not working, he is dedicating his time to the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation.
If all that were not enough, the singer has a perfect family. Married to Dorothea Hurley since 1989, they have four wonderful children who never give them any worries.
Or so we thought.
Despite the fact that Jon Bon Jovi is responsible and attentive towards his children, he could not prevent that his only daughter, Stephanie Rose (1993) fell into the pit of substance abuse. It nearly killed her.
It happened in 2012, in Stephanie's freshman year at college, when she was only 19 years old. Jon Bon Jovi remembers it as "my worst moment as a father."
As he told People magazine, "I'm as surprised as the next parent to come across this situation. I had no idea. Steph is a great girl. Good grades, great at college, everything was idyllic... "
One night, when Stephanie Rose was in her bedroom at Hamilton College with a friend, she overdosed on a highly dangerous substance that left her unconscious on the floor of the room, 'Rockcelebrities' reports.
Quickly transferred to a hospital, the young woman initially failed to respond to stimuli. After a while, though, the doctors managed to revive her and save her life. When she came to, the first thing Stephanie Rose did was call her father.
In an interview with Metro, Jon Bon Jovi referred to that call as "the worst moment of my life."
Obviously, there was a difficult talk between father, mother and daughter, but before that, Stephanie Rose and her friend were charged with possession of illegal substances. So she did not just have an abuse problem but also legal issues on top of that.
Luckily, New York's 'Good Samaritan' law, which prohibits prosecuting someone who has been affected by excessive substance use, was applied to both students.
Within the family, problems were also resolved quite easily. Her parents asked for some space from the press in order to avoid too much embarrassment for the young woman.
Yet, they didn't want to hide it either. Jon Bon Jovi was clear that the event was an opportunity to teach the world and show it the effects of dangerous substances.
The singer was aware that he was not the only, nor the last, father to go through such trauma. He wanted to give visibility to the recovery of his daughter and instill hope into those people who went through something similar.
Jon Bon Jovi, Dorothea Hurley and Stephanie Rose worked together for months to get the young woman completely clean.
Stephanie Rose is the oldest of four siblings. The other three are boys: Romeo Jon, Jesse and Jacob Hurley. Obviously, the eldest sister had to give a good example to the boys.
Since the tragic event, Stephanie Rose has worked as an assistant at the (now defunct) Weinstein Company, walked the runway as a model for Nikki Lund, and danced on stage with her father to the song he'd dedicated to her in 2000: 'I Got the Girl.'
Currently, Stephanie Rose Bongiovi is a production assistant and is still completely clean. Her tragic story had a happy ending, though it could easily have gone otherwise.