Bon Jovi’s long career documented, warts and all, in new Hulu series

Jon Bon Jovi acknowledges that the new documentary “Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story” is “a little overwhelming, emotional.” It’s also a proverbial warts-and-all presentation of his life, as well as the 40-plus-year career of the band that bears his name.

But Bon Jovi wouldn’t have it any other way.

“All I’ve ever wanted to sell was the truth,” the 62-year-old New Jersey rock icon explains via Zoom. “If you’re not gonna show it warts and all, don’t bother. This wasn’t a VH1 ‘Behind the Music.’ I wasn’t interested in a puff piece.”

“Thank You, Goodnight” — premiering Friday, April 26 on Hulu — is anything but that.

Over four episodes weighing in at nearly five hours, director Gotham Chopra, the son of philosopher Deepak Chopra and best known for his sports documentaries, digs into all aspects of the band, which has sold more than 120 million albums worldwide and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Jon Bon Jovi performs during Rock In Rio at Cidade do Rock on Sept. 29, 2019, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images)
Chopra had access to band members present and past, including former guitarist Richie Sambora, controversial former manager Doc McGhee, Bon Jovi’s rarely interviewed wife, Dorothea, and others in the band’s orbit.

It’s also framed around the voice problems Bon Jovi has encountered in recent years that required vocal cord surgery in 2022.

The band has a new album, “Forever,” due out June 7 but Bon Jovi isn’t sure he’ll ever be able to tour again.

“The ‘if’ is getting smaller and further in the distance on a daily basis, but it’s up to God at this point,” he said.

He has no regrets about sharing that struggle — and other issues — in the documentary.

“It was uncomfortable,” he says. “People of our era, our age, we didn’t grow up with discussing mental health issues … alcoholism or anxiety. Now it’s commonplace, and so I don’t mind discussing those issues personally with our listeners because I find they’ve experienced the same things I have.

“If anything, I want them to feel closer to me as a man, as a writer, because I’m experiencing what you are — just differently.”
Jon Bon Jovi attends a press event for Hulu’s “Thank You, Goodnight” at the Langham Huntington in Pasadena, California, on Feb. 9. (Disney/PictureGroup)