Jon Bon Jovi ‘wasn’t aware’ of Stranger Things before meeting future daughter-in-law Millie Bobby Brown

Jon Bon Jovi has revealed he wasn’t aware of Millie Bobby Brown’s star-making turn in Netflix’s hit sci-fi series Stranger Things before his son became engaged to the actor.

Brown, 20, and Jake Bongiovi, 21, announced their engagement in April 2023.

“I can’t tell you that I honestly was very aware of it, I think it was for another generation, but I do admire her work ethic,” Bon Jovi told The Independent in a new interview.

He added: “Millie is a movie star. We just went to the premiere of Damsel with her, and Jake’s got his first movie out right now. I’m happy for him.”

The Independent’s interview with Jon Bon Jovi will be published in full this Sunday (21 April).

The “Livin’ on a Prayer” singer married his childhood sweetheart Dorothea Hurley in 1989, and the couple will soon celebrate their 35th anniversary.

Of his son’s marriage to Brown, Bon Jovi added: “They are two young people that are pursuing a dream together, so we’re supportive of it because our hope for them, and Millie’s parents’ hope for them – because Bob and Kelly Brown too met when they were very young – is that the kids will grow together.

“Anything after that is out of all four of us as parents’ control, but they’re good kids. They’ll figure it out.”

It had previously been reported that Brown would give her future father-in-law the night off from singing duties on her wedding day, but Bon Jovi joked: “You know, I doubt her word on that very much!”

He declined to reveal what he might perform, saying: “We’ll see! It depends how much wine I have before we get to the moment where she sticks the mic in my face!”

The wedding will be officiated by Brown’s Stranger Things co-star Matthew Modine.

Modine recently told The Independent: “I was the first person to meet Jake. He was such a gentleman. He was so kind, this young man, and comported himself in such a grown-up manner. He was very impressive. I don’t know what I expected from a rock star’s son, but he’s a very impressive young man.”

Modine, 65, has known Brown since season one of Stranger Things, which aired in 2016. He plays Dr Martin Brenner, a government scientist who has a tumultuous relationship with Brown’s character Eleven, who refers to him as “Papa”.

Last month, Brown revealed that Bongiovi proposed to her underwater, and that the romantic moment almost ended in disaster.