Jon Bon Jovi credits his wife for helping him overcome ‘darkness’

Jon Bon Jovi thanks his wife Dorothea for helping him to beat his demons.

The 54-year-old rock star has admitted to hitting his lowest ebb following the abrupt departure of guitarist Richie Sambora from his band in 2013 – but has credited his wife of 27 years for ensuring he fought through the turmoil.

He said: "There was a lot of darkness, really. I was going through a difficult period and it felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders."

Richie "didn’t show up for work" just over a month into a 101-date world tour, according to Jon, who has revealed how his wife assisted him through a turbulent period in his career.

He told the Mirror newspaper: "It was a very, very difficult time that I haven’t fully rebounded from yet but my wife has been phenomenal. Without her, I am not sure how I would have coped."

The couple – who have four children, Stephanie, 23, Jesse, 21, Jacob, 14, and Romeo, 12 – married in secret in Las Vegas and Jon considers himself to be a lucky man.

He shared: "She is very wise. She gave me four great kids and I didn’t f*** up. I did it right the first time and she is great and undyingly loyal.

"If I am jokingly made the poster boy for rock and roll marriage, I will accept it but Bono has been married just as long."

Jon said, too, that he has been touring for too long for his wife to worry about what he gets up to on the road.

He explained: "I have been around far too long for her to be worried about me on tour.

"The greatest thing is when you trust each other to say: ‘you wanna get drunk? Great here’s the bottle’… or ‘you want to crash the car? Crash the car but be home by six.’

"When you have that kind of independence and trust, nothing really matters. Independence. That’s true adoration. The rest of it is a cliche."