It’s his life.
Jon Bon Jovi revealed his true feelings about Richie Sambora leaving Bon Jovi, admitting he’s still “heartbroken” over how it all went down more than 10 years ago.
The rocker, 63, opened up about Sambora’s exit from the band and revealed where they stand today.
“The great thing that I have said about him throughout our lives was you would be lucky to call him your friend, and I mean that — talented beyond, beyond as a guitar player, as a singer, as a collaborator, wonderful, right-hand man, awesome. Couldn’t ask for more,” he told Bunnie Xo on Monday’s episode of her “Dumb Blonde” podcast.
Sambora left the Grammy-winning band in the middle of their 2013 world tour to focus on co-parenting his daughter with ex-wife Heather Locklear following their 2007 divorce.
Bon Jovi shared that he’s still upset about Sambora’s departure.
“My heartbreak with him is the way he walked out on us, compounded by the fact that it took him years to come back in the room just to have a meal with Tico and David and I and say, ‘I’m sorry,’” he explained.
The “Livin’ on a Prayer” singer also said that he just wanted the truth.
He noted, “But if what he wanted was to be just Richie Sambora, not a member of Bon Jovi, do it right? I always encourage all of my guys, because my attitude was, ‘Bring the information back that you learn outside. It’ll only help us.’”
He continued, “So for whatever reason, he walked out, and then that was that. But I can’t defend or or accuse in any … and it’s just not worth it anymore. After so many years, I just … if you can’t figure [it out] or get it together, then it’s not on us, right? I love the man, heartbroken that he walked out on us.”
The Post reached out to Sambora’s rep for comment.
Sambora was replaced by Bon Jovi’s current guitarist Phil X.
In 2024, the famous rock star got to say his piece and apologized to his bandmates.
“I don’t regret leaving the situation, but I regret how I did it, so I want to apologize fully right now to the fans, especially, and also to the guys because my feet and my spirit were just not letting me walk out the door,” Sambora said in the documentary “Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story.”
While answering questions about the 2024 film, Bon Jovi insisted “there was never a fight” that forced Sambora to abruptly leave the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame group.
“There was substance abuse, there was anxiety, there was being a single parent, there was a lot of personal issues he was going through. But never to this day did any of us, me or him or David [Bryan] or Tico [Torres], ever have a fight,” the singer said.
“He had some issues that he just couldn’t wrap his head around and he wanted to be home more than he wanted to be on the road, but you got to show up for work. So there’s no animosity. An integral part of my story for three of the four chapters was my right-hand man, asked to join my band and I was lucky to have met him. But life went on.”
