There’s only one woman interviewed for the documentary, and that’s Jon Bon Jovi’s wife, Dorothea Bongiovi. (It’s their daughter, Stephanie, who’s at the center of an incident that Bon Jovi revealed was the worst time he ever experienced as a father.) The couple met when they were in high school and have been together (mostly) ever since, which means she was on the front lines for the entirety of the band’s existence.
While she’s a logical choice for speaking on the documentary, the lack of a female perspective is a sad one — particularly when you consider it’s the female fans that have allowed Bon Jovi to stay relevant for decades. And that’s not an exaggeration.
In 2016, Forbes spoke with biographer Bryan Reesman about the lasting popularity of Bon Jovi — and Reesman said that without their female fans, they wouldn’t have lasted. There were a few things in play here, and it started back in the 1980s. Reesman explained, “[Bon Jovi was] a little raunchy, but it was safe enough that a lot of girls wanted to go to the shows. It was a look and a sound, it was sexy without being too sexual.” He continued to explain that Bon Jovi continued to release songs that related to that core group of fans: “Now they have songs that reflect some wisdom and maturity that female fans who have grown up with them have gained.” And that would have been a brilliant thing to see reflected in their story.
