Jon Bon Jovi has spoken about how “cool” his trailblazing mother was as an original Playboy bunny in the early 1960s. The musician’s mother Carol Bongiovi was one of the first bunnies in the New York City club alongside Lauren Hutton, Diane Lane, and the wife of legendary New York DJ Scott Muni. “It’s cool. I’ve seen pictures of her with [Frank] Sinatra, and the whole thing with my dad there, and my uncle’s there, all hanging out in the Playboy Club,” he said.
Jon was speaking on Bunnie XO’s podcast Dumb Blondes, and he shared their history, revealing how they met while they were both Marines. “She couldn’t wait to enlist, and said that the Marine Corps was nothing compared to her childhood. So she went and joined the Marines and meets my pop,” he said of Carol and his father, John Bongiovi Sr. Carol and John welcomed their son in 1962, when Carol was 21.
The Playboy Club in Manhattan opened later that year in December; it was the fifth Playboy club to open in two years, with the first one opening in Chicago in 1960 with acts including comedian Dick Gregory and then 17-year old singer Aretha Franklin. Each club had four different rooms: a Living Room, a Playmate Bar, a Dining Room, and a Club Room. Guests were served food and drinks by the Playboy Bunnies, cocktail waitresses who wore lingerie outfits inspired by the tuxedo-wearing Playboy rabbit mascot.
Other famous Playboy Bunnies include Debbie Harry, the Blondie frontwoman who has always insisted that the role was a “very sought-after kind of job,” and that “the girls were treated very, very well; there was a lot of benefits: health benefits, job security, good salary, good money.”
© Ron Galella Collection via GettyCarol died on Tuesday, July 9 2024, three days shy of her 84th birthday. Carol’s death occurred at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, New Jersey. She was 83 years old. In a heartfelt statement, Jon, 63, shared: “Our mother was a force to be reckoned with. Her spirit and can-do attitude shaped this family. She will be greatly missed.”
He has always credited his parents for helping him to find success; in a 2020 interview with The Big Issue, he expressed his gratitude for their belief in him, sharing: “Even if you truly weren’t any good at your craft, if you believed you were, you could work on it. As I got older, I realized that was a great gift that I got from my folks. They truly believed in the John Kennedy mantra of going to the moon. ‘Yeah, of course, you can go to the moon. Just go, Johnny.’ And there I went.”
© Getty ImagesJon began performing music at the age of 12 and by 16 he was performing in clubs across New Jersey. “They were always supportive of me, which in retrospect, was incredible. Because I could get home at one or two in the morning, and have to still be in school by eight o’clock. They just said, show up on time for school, you know that is your responsibility, but pursue your dream,” he said.
Jon married his high school sweetheart Dorothea Hurley in 1989, and they welcomed four children: daughter, Stephanie, born in 1993, and three sons, Jesse, Jake, and Romeo, born in 1995, 2002, and 2004, respectively.
Jake is married to Strangers Things actress Millie Bobby Brown, and in August 2025 they welcomed their first child, Jon’s first grandchild.
