On April 29, 1989, Jon Bon Jovi shocked the world by secretly marrying his high school sweetheart, Dorothea Hurley. Back in high school, Bon Jovi didn’t get good grades in history, so what did he do? He won over Dorothea by convincing her to help him cheat. She let him copy her homework and even sneak a peek at her answers during tests.

When they met, Bon Jovi was just an ordinary high school kid, but Dorothea knew he was special. She used to tell all their classmates that her boyfriend would become a rockstar — to which they sarcastically replied, “Good luck with that.”

Little did Dorothea’s classmates know that, within a few years, they — along with the rest of the world — would be singing Jon Bon Jovi’s songs at the top of their lungs. Songs that would climb all the way to number one on the charts.

The couple got married in 1989 in a secret ceremony in Las Vegas. How did they make that decision? Well, after receiving the news that he had a number one album, Bon Jovi looked at Dorothea and said, “I need an even bigger happiness — I have an idea. Let’s go to Vegas right now.” And so they did.

When Bon Jovi’s manager found out they had secretly tied the knot… well, he made it very clear he wasn’t happy. He was furious. In his eyes, “America’s boy” was now off the market. He feared Bon Jovi would lose his female fanbase along with his bachelor appeal. Clearly, that didn’t affect Bon Jovi and Dorothea’s marriage, since the two have now been together for 35 years.