Jon with his daughter Stephanie and wife of 23 years, Dorthea Hurley, in 2010
Jon Bon Jovi’s 19 year-old daughter, Stephanie Rose Bongiovi, was arrested and released following a medical emergency in her dorm room at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY early yesterday morning. Police and paramedics responded to an overdose call and found Stephanie unresponsive after a reported heroin overdose. She was transported to hospital, and it sounds as if she’s recovering as she was expected to be go home yesterday.
The 19-year-old daughter of rocker Jon Bon Jovi was arrested on drug possession charges after she may have overdosed on heroin in her college dorm room in Upstate New York.
Stephanie Rose Bongiovi, a student a Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., was expected to be released from the hospital Wednesday, according to police.
Officers and a volunteer ambulance squad were called to the dorm at about 1:51 a.m. Wednesday to assist a woman who had possibly overdosed on heroin and was not responsive, police say.
After finding a small amount of heroin, police arrested a student, Ian S. Grant, 21, who, like Bongiovi, is from Red Bank, N.J. A later search of the dorm also turned up additional heroin, marijuana and drug paraphernalia, say police.
Bongiovi, one of the rocker’s four children with wife Dorothea Hurley, was then also arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana. She was released and ordered to return to court. All of the charges are misdemeanors.
Here’s the thing that bothers me about this story, particularly since it’s so high profile. I think people should be able to call for medical help and get first responders on the scene for an overdose without fear of being busted by police at the same time for drug possession. Otherwise you have a situation where a call to paramedics is delayed while evidence is being destroyed, which can be dangerous or deadly to the OD victim. Kaiser made the point to me that people don’t get arrested for suicide attempts and that this is similar: it’s a medical situation.
On the other hand, this girl could have died and maybe by facing the consequences immediately she’ll get scared enough to clean up. Drug laws should be enforced, particularly in the case of hard drugs like heroin. This might also keep her friends who were using and supplying her with the stuff from getting hooked or dying themselves.
It just goes to show that drug addiction affects people from all walks of life. It must be heartbreaking when your child becomes a drug addict, I can’t imagine how painful that is. I hope Stephanie is able to get clean after this.
Header image credit: PRPhotos. Photo directly above of Jon with his family is from August, 2011 credit: WENN.com
Poor thing. Let’s hope she gets clean and healthy.
This particular “poor thing” was found overdosed at her $55,000 ultra private college. I’ll save my sympathy for people who actually deserve it.
I’m sure she’s drugging for a million reasons – her dad not being around that much, etc… but I just don’t get it. All that’s probably required from her in life is to be happy. She could do anything she wants and this is the best she could come up with? Come on. She’s just another bored rich kid with nothing better to do apparently.
So you really think that if only you have a rich daddy, life has to be super-duper easy. If only that were all it takes for people to be happy…
I’ve never read so much bullsh-t in just a few lines. Drug addiction is terrible, especially to parents of addicted children. Their social and economic status doesn’t have to play a part in it. Whatever are the reasons, the thing is now she’s an addicted person who may have lost control of her life and this is terrible situation.
Poor thing indeed, and I’m especially sad for Jon and Dorothea and of course Stephanie herself. That’s a battle that money, power, fame, status, etc… don’t make easier. I hope she recovers for good.
@lin…Petty and jealous don’t wear well. You need to go change into something less offensive to the rest of the world!
No, I don’t believe rich daddy instantly equates to happiness, but at the same time you can’t deny that money gives people more opportunities than some kid living on the streets.
I grew up with an incredibly verbal and physically abusive mother. She said things to me that your worst enemy would probably not say to your face. I’m not going to even talk about the beatings. It was a really rough childhood and I got through it without a drop of alcohol or drugs.
People have a CHOICE. It’s been stated everywhere that drugs are bad for you. When you make that choice to try it out that very first time or whatever, you are taking the risk of addiction and whatnot for a few hours of pleasure. They make a choice to seek out someone to buy the drugs, shoot up, etc. Addiction to drugs doesn’t magically appear out of nowhere one day. It’s not like cancer where there is no choice. I’ll save my sympathy for kids with parents who were addicted to drugs while in womb or people who have drugs forced upon them in trades like prostitution.
@Lin: drug abuse covers all income groups, age groups, those who are famous and those who are just another cog in the wheel. I’ve known many people over the years who came from rich and poor families who got caught up in the trap of drug addiction – it doesn’t differentiate and either you have a prediliction for addictive behaviour or you don’t.
@Lin-While I have complete sympathy for what you’ve been through-it’s a huge pet peeve of mine when people feel compelled to compare their personal tragedies with those of others. It’s not a contest. Just because you went through hardships that may be perceived as worse than Stephanie Rose, doesn’t mean that you are somehow more “entitled” or worthy of sympathy.
And if you think that everything is a choice, you really know nothing about addiction. It’s good that you’re strong but not everyone is made like you and not everyone has the same coping mechanism and you’re not somehow “better” because you handled your pain without self-medicating.
Having been through tough circumstances, you should try being less judgemental and angry about it and maybe you could actually help others.
@ Lin So just because you’re rich you don’t have problems; Sorry, I didn’t get that memo.
Like Barbara said your social & economic status has nothing to do with it. Have you seen the show Addiction?
One thing about drug addiction is that it is not always tied to people who have struggles in their lives. Some people start to use for recreational purposes just because they are curious as to what it’s like. Unfortunately too many people enjoy the feeling and get hooked on it. Drugs can affect people from the lower class all the way up to the highest of upper class. It doesn’t necessarily mean there has to be an underlying factor that causes you to turn to drugs. Sometimes it’s just about making poor decisions. Think about trying a cig for the first time you know it’s bad for you but if you try it and like it you become a smoker. The difference is that if you are 18, cigs are legal. The same with alcohol if you are 21.
People tend to do things on impulse. Years ago I tried E for the first time, not because I was unhappy in my life but because I was with friends who had it and I just wanted to see what it was like. They also didn’t try to pressure me, it was my choice. I was lucky because I didn’t get addicted to the feeling it gives you and had no problem walking away.
Don’t be down on the girl because her father is a celebrity and has money. We should just be hoping that she makes it through this okay.
I’m glad you made it through your situation and today you are able to share it with us. No child should have had to go through what you did.
Lin, I too went through harsh stuff in my childhood and I too came out of it without ever doing drugs nor touching alcohol, ever (though I was bulimic for too many years, I’m ashamed to admit).
Still, I always feel for those who so young have such horrid experiences as this poor girl probably had: you don’t turn to heroin for nothing, I think.
The world needs more compassion. We all do.
Drug addiction knows no boundries. Because she is wealthy she deserves less compassion?? That is wrong on so many levels. I feel for the whole family and hope she gets the help she needs. Heroin use is most likely not her first foray into drug use. She will need serious help to get clean.
@TheOriginalKitten- That’s just the thing. I’m only admitting this anonymously online. I grew up with close friends who would always tell me their troubles at home and I have always understood where they came from and sympathized with them. I understood what seemed bad to them was awful in the context of their lives. I’ve never begrudged or judged someone because I knew I had it worst. Back then, I never let on how bad I really had it compared to them. Now, only two ultra close friends I’ve known for years know.
I’ll admit I’ve never had friends with drug addictions mainly because I choose not to hang out with anyone who did that stuff. The thing is, I can understand alcohol addiction or even prescription pill addiction. So many people partake in the first socially that they may not realize they have a problem until it’s too late. The same with doctor prescribed pills – it may seem safer because a doctor prescribes them. People take it for legitimate reasons like physical pain and may be addicted before they know it. But when it comes to hard drugs like crack, coke, heroin, meth, etc. I’ll admit I’m judgmental. Have you ever heard of that happily ever story with that one person who was hooked up on hard drugs? Neither have I. By choosing to try out hard drugs, they are KNOWINGLY opening themselves to a world of potential high-risk trouble.
I coped with my life by volunteering at food shelters. I just always knew that whatever trouble I was going through, there were people who didn’t even have food and were going through tougher times than I was. I guess for those who perceive me as jealous or whatever, I am secretly angry because I see it as just a waste of potential. She could be using her unique position for so many good things like her father.
I do hope she gets clean.
@lin…sorry you went through what you went through. We all have crosses to bear from events/turmoil in life. None of us come away unscathed although some are worst then others, as your’s appears to be. However, it’s great you volunteered, it’s great you lend an ear to a friend, but jealousy because of money and/or life status is as unhealthy as being an abuser…whether it is a drug abuse, alcohol abuse, or child abuser and those things have no economic standards.
@Lin-I dated an Oxy addict for many years. Frankly, I probably had similar feelings as you about addicts/addictions before it happened to someone I love.
Regardless, you’re entitled to your opinion and you sound like someone who is a good friend and who gives back so I commend you on that.
I just ask that you open your mind up a little bit. I’m telling you-my ex-boyfriend was and is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. If he can become an addict, then I feel like it can happen to anyone. It just breaks my heart to think that some people may judge him as weak or of poor moral character because of his past demons.
@TheOriginalKitten- I didn’t write about my past as a sympathy card but because I understand that feeling where you’re in so much pain death would be a relief and why people would want to escape from pain – regardless where it comes from. For me, it was a no brainer. Life was already tough enough that I didn’t need to add another issue to my problems. I just channeled my issues through another way: like volunteering. Sounds silly or cheesy I know but I do get happiness from helping others and an escape from my problems. Did I escape unscathed? Not exactly. I have my struggles but I also remind myself that people have gone through much worse.
My best friend in high school had an alcoholic mother he didn’t tell me about until college. Because of her addiction (triggered by a car accident), he abstained from alcohol throughout college. He will have a drink every now and then but just socially. I guess I surround myself with very disciplined people that it can be hard for me to be open to things like this.
As for the continued comments on jealousy, I had a father who overcompensated my mother’s actions with material goods. I always had the most out of my friends so that on the outside it looked like I had no reason to be unhappy. It would have been easy to drown my sorrows through drugs but I simply told myself it wasn’t an option. My parents were generous enough to comp my college costs and whatnot. I’m not rich but I have no debt and savings. I’m grateful for that much. I have a friend who was able to buy a Lamborghini and Maserati while in college but had issues like dad cheating on mom. I get that money does not instantly mean happiness but it does buy more opportunity than anything.
I made the comment about her ultra expensive school because I’ve been reading about college debt a lot: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/business/student-loans-weighing-down-a-generation-with-heavy-debt.html?pagewanted=all
and I find it an absolute waste that so many people struggle and she’s privileged enough to not have that worry yet she chooses to do hard drugs like heroin.
For me, my dream is to go to 3rd world countries to install a water pump or something to the people who don’t have access to clean water. Can I afford to do it? No. Am I bitter or jealous? No. You can be ultra-rich yet still be aware and appreciative of what you have in life and how you can channel it into something good rather than destructive.
Am I sympathetic to this girl and her drug issues? No.
Got it, Lin 🙂
You have a good head on your shoulders.
Both my parents grew up in severely abusive households and both had the EXACT same mindset as you. My mom came home to her mother threatening to commit suicide almost daily so her mentality was that drug use was a self-indulgent act that would only add to her mother’s misery. Same with my dad.
To add to that, both my parents are the most amazing people on earth-so they broke the cycle when they raised me and my bro, which I’m sure you’ll do as well, if you have or will have a family of your own.
For the record, I never got jealousy out of your original comment. I think it’s more that when you go through something and you make it through the dark tunnel, it’s hard to see how others can’t do the same. And it IS something to be proud of, but I still think it’s wrong to judge others who can’t do the same. I get now that you’re not really doing that, just that you have a unique perspective that stems from insight derived from a similar personal experience.
I have no doubt you’ll put the wisdom and strength you gained from a touch childhood to good use 😉
@lin – I agree with you completely. I do hope it’s possible for this girl to get over the addiction and appreciate what she has in life. I certainly don’t sympathize with her though. I don’t grudge her privileged life because she did not choose to be there, but, just by the virtue of being there she needs to be more responsible. She’s 19 and doing heroin!! One of the big disadvantages of living a privileged life with or without having to earn it from scratch is that people loose perspective of what qualifies as a pressing problem or concern in life. Survival is not a concern and that diminishes their perspective greatly.
Can’t fault Lin for her comments and I don’t believe it was made out of jealousy. While I smoke pot I’ve always been afraid to try anything harder as I’m fully aware of the addictive nature of harder drugs. So why play with fire? As she said – choices.
I think I can see both sides of the argument. I feel the utmost compassion for parents and friends of addicts. I think to watch your child destroy themselves is the worst feeling in the world and while I have sympathy for addicts to I can see where Lin is coming from. You do have to be responsible for the choices you make in life … I feel nothing but gratitude for being alive and being allowed to have so many opportunities in this world, to experience so much, that when I see people throw it away it’s hard for me to feel sympathy towards them. I probably should but I’m not gonna pretend I feel something I don’t.
I agree with Lin. You do make the choice to take drugs or not. That’s why I’m hesitant to call it a disease. Of course I hope she gets clean, but I don’t particularly pity her.
Shame on everyone here who’s making excuses for her while essentially wishing death on Lindsay (who I also think it the source of her own problems…Not Dina or Michael).
She’s 19 and doing heroine?? That’s terrible!
Heroine is a huge thing for teens nowadays, at least where I live. My brother was an addict for years. He would disappear for days, steal so he could sell stuff for money, it was terrible. He’s been clean for about two years now, thankfully. Anyway, I know it has spread to the middle class suburban high schools where I live, in south jersey. It’s insane.
Meanwhile Lohan is still free after her 1001 shenanigans. Unless Blohan is in jail, anybody else’s arrest or conviction will be unfair, by golly!!!!!!!!
And that Marc Emery is still in jail as well…for selling seeds, which he paid taxes to the Canadia…I mean Harper government for so he should not be in prison.
While i find this great to feel sympathy and empathy for that kid, i also feel that it’s really ironic that this sympathy isn’t given to ANY kid, famous or not out there, in the same situation.
I remembered a story about Demi Moore’s college kid doing drug or getting in the booze, (don’t really rememberred) and getting busted for it and people in here were not THAT understanding about that RICH girl doing drugs and taking it for granted her privilleged background while she should have stay clean because of it…so in a way, Lin has a VERY VALID point and some people would have agree with her if it was a kid for whom they feel no sympathy at all.
Some celebrities still are called drug addicts till this day without evidence and they never even get into troubles for drugs and overdose to begin with, yet they are still mocked and insulted for it.
Sympathy but not for everybody is the motto i guess.
Just sayin…
+1 to both you and lin. Great comments with very valid points.
This arrest is a blessing in this girl’s life. It was meant to happen and is a blessing because she does not need to F around with this for years before finding out this is where she will end up and if she does it again she should be arrested again and she WILL get it. DO NOT BAIL HER OUT. This is her life to sort out. Be there when she gets out but let her figure out why she should be allowed to be out for good
i’m glad someone called for her. the next person to od there might not be as fortunate, for the exact reason you stated.
not a fan of his but very sad.
Does Jon Bon Jovi hot roller set his hair?
I don’t have a problem with her being arrested for drugs. She needs help, so maybe now she’ll actually take it.
How heartbreaking to have a kid on drugs.
I hope she can beat this, because they say this drug is hard to beat.
Honestly, the most shocking part of this story was that Bon Jovi isn’t their real last name. Bongiovi is. How did I not know this all these years?
I wondered the same thing. I like the “real” spelling better. Also, I think she looks just like her dad.
Hoping she gets clean and healthy and that they can heal.
holy crap we have the same name. i looked at your comment and thought “i don’t remember writing this at all…was i sleepblogging???” lol
I’m glad she was arrested. Maybe this will push her to get help. Doubt it, but hope.
+1 Pray that this is a wake up call for her. Better arrested and alive than dead.
I’m torn on the issue, as pointed out in the article arresting an OD victim for drug possession could result in future deaths. On the other hand almost every state has a drug diversion program for possession. Sometimes these programs are the only way a family can help an over 18 member get treatment. At 18 they can simply refuse intervention but once the court mandates rehab they have to do it or face the penalties. Just beware of Narconon!
I just dont understand how she wouldnt be smart enough to not touch heroin. I mean come om how many people has her dad seen get addicted to this stuff. Dont try it its addictive almos
it is so painful to have a child with a drug problem, I speak from experience, however, now that they know about it, they can, as a family, deal with her issues and help her to become healthy. The stuggle is ongoing, but when the secrets are revealed the healing, hopefully, will begin.
How sad. She’s lucky to have survived. I hope she gets the help she needs.
Medical fact: most heroin addicts die when they’re trying to quit. The human body can build up a tolerance to incredible amounts of heroin – up to a gram a day – but your body loses the ability to process that much after only a few days.
So a lot of the time, people will try to quit, be clean for several days or a week (long enough to lose tolerance) and then they have a slip-up and do some heroin again, only to find that what was a reasonably sized dose last week today is fatal.
Hope her family can pull together and help her. Addiction is a terrible thing.
This plus hard drugs ruin your organs really fast and sometimes heart cannot handle the rehab itself. I knew this guy who was addicted to heroin – he was young and healthy before that. He lost his wife and job and finally wanted to stop using but he died in the hospital after few days because his heart couldn’t handle the detox. You cannot do it just like that, cold turkey and even while doing it gradually, the damage might be too big. I don’t know why people, with all the knowledge we have now about hard drugs, still decide to start using. Addicts don’t have much to say, it’s too powerful but why start and become one in the first place?
This is not true. Unless you have a preexisting medical condition that would be exacerbated by the withdrawal process, heroin detoxification does not *often* result in death – it is just extremely painful, the person becomes very, very ill, but after about 48-72 hours the physical withdrawal is usually complete. In fact, very seldom is heroin detoxification medically managed – monitored, maybe, but seldom managed. The only substance that should be medically managed during detox is alcohol – the seizures can absolutely kill you if you are unlucky enough to have them. Can relapse after withdrawal lead to an overdose due to tolerance? Yes, but much less than the general public thinks. This information can be found on the OASAS and ASAM websites, which dictate care for rehabilitation facilities and other substance abuse treatments.
I didn’t write it happens “often”. I wrote it can “sometimes” happen – it happened to this guy I knew, it happened to the very famous musician from my country and after he died and everyone started looking for someone to blame (he died in the hospital, right under the doctor’s nose), the doctors explained how it worked and that they couldn’t do anything because withdrawal symptoms (pain, stress, high blood pressure) were unbereable for his heart, already destroyed by heroin (no preexisting medical condition, the drugs have ruined his body). I don’t say rehab is bad and that rehab killed him, I say heroin and other hard drugs are and those are the reasons he died. They damage person’s body so badly that even something positive like rehab can be dangerous.
Shit happens.
You mention drug addiction, but there is no evidence of that. Believe it or not, drug USE does not mean drug ABUSE. Maybe this was the first time trying it?
Don’t get me wrong, heroin will f*ck you up. I’ve always stayed far, far away from it. But, believe it or not, some people have experimented with hard drugs and not become addicted.
Also, arresting college students for marijuana possession? Shooting fish in a barrel much?
There have been reports from friends that in fact she has a drug problem and family and friends have been trying to help her kick them. Hope that this is the rock bottom and she can get clean.
Good Luck Bongiovi family…we are all pulling for you!
fabgrrl, I was just going to post the exact same thing. Everyone is saying she is a drug addict, how do we know that? She might have been a recreational user for all we know, then decided to try heroine and F’ed up big time by overdosing. To me it sounds like a spoiled girl who got in over her head – maybe I will be proven wrong though.
I agree too that being charged with marijuana posession is beyond stoopid.
+1, fabgrrl and littlestar. There is a huge huge difference between drug use and drug addiction.
Also, I don’t know how it is in other states, but NYS laws regarding the possession of marijuana are set up so that the severity of the punishment corresponds directly with the amount you have: http://norml.org/laws/item/new-york-penalties-2?category_id=876
On Dec. 6, possession of an ounce or less of weed will not be illegal in Washington State. The Seattle PD has even put out a blog on legal weed use!!
I’m in Canada here. I can honestly say I have no idea what our laws are regarding pot possession!
Heroin is not a drug that one *dabbles* with. I understand your point about using vs. abuse but I have to say, having once been married to a man who spiraled down into raging drug addiction, that all kinds of red flags are going off here.
I do find it strange she was arrested. I know that when I found my estranged husband OD’d on heroin and cocaine, with the needle still stuck in his arm, that both police and paramedics showed up, confiscated his stash but that he wasn’t charged with possession. I suppose I thought at the time that being so completely f*ed up enough to do heroin was a cry for help and the police acted accordingly.
That’s the problem. Kids think they can dabble in it — that somehow it’s just a minor step up from booze or pot. And that’s where it all goes wrong.
I guess they can force her into rehab with an arrest so maybe that’s the motivation. NY has odd drug laws and it sounds like she was arrested in a small town upstate she may be in serious trouble(besides the addiction).
That sounds like a very real possibility. My father did undercover police work in NJ and the he would routinely recommend to the judge that the user be ordered to a rehab rather than jail. If they didn’t complete court order rehab, the jail sentence would kick in. Not always effective, but better than counting on a user to get help on their own.
I’m an RN and did trauma icu nursing for 5 years and I don’t think I ever saw anyone get arrested for drug use that landed them in the hospital unless they had done something else dumb (like shoot at the cops) My hospital was in a bad part of town and we routinely found drugs on patients in the ER. This whole thing makes me angry because it breaks down trust between patients and medical personelle. It’s important to know what someone takes at home/how much because medication doses depend on it. Stories like this prevent patients from telling the truth about what they take without worry that their doctor or nurse will turn them in.
I live a couple of miles from Clinton, and from what I’ve heard, this is a nice, close family. As a matter of fact, Jon Bon Jovi has raised money for Hamilton scholarships so that students without his kind of money have the opportunity to attend Hamilton. Teenagers do stupid things, and access to money facilitates that. I hope she straightens out sooner rather than later.
“Teenagers do stupid things, and access to money facilitates that.”
Yes. And heroin seems to cycle in and out of favor as the drug of choice for affluent kids. Right now it’s a huge problem in some Chicago suburbs. One in particular has had a number of ODs this year.
My tweens are terrified of drugs right now but I know it’s only a matter of time before peer pressure heats up. That, combined with boredom and money (not that we have piles of it), makes me sweat just thinking about it.
So living a few miles from Clinton, like I did until recently, are you also familiar with how insanely bad the Heroin problem is on campus? You could honestly go door to door in the dorms and ask if anyone has a bottle of wine, but instead be met with ‘no, but I have some H’.
I absolutely do not understand that campuses obsession and flippancy over the use. ODs there are not uncommon but usually EMTs aren’t called. Instead parents are, who then make some calls and it all gets sorted out.
So I grew up near this college, moved back home after college, and just moved out west last year. This college has a MAJOR heroin problem. We’re talking slums of Baltimore level only everyone is rich. It is easier to find heroin in the dorms than wine. I would venture over the last 3 years its become more used than weed on campus.
I truly do nOt understand it. I don’t get why there is this huge demand, or why they equate it to having a beer or two.
I’m personally thrilled this happened. This has been ignored for way to long on that campus and that town. Hopefully this will cause some action. However, I have a feeling it will only be chalked up to ‘oh just some celebrity kid acting out’.
Bravo… the use of hard drugs at colleges is HUGE… and cuts across all class and racial lines. But before peeps do the “oh, how sad” B-S, lots of these kids are borrowing TAXPAYER monies to attend expensive schools and spend their time getting high. Maybe this kid didn’t use taxpayer funds… but she’s taking a spot at a prestigious university where maybe some dream-act kid could do a better job. So before everyone excuses the behavior understand its a widespread and growing problem… and we as taxpayers are taking it on the chin.
Nope, don’t deny there’s a problem with drugs at Hamilton at all. Kids from there pass out on neighbor’s lawns and go to the hospital every weekend. The college and the parents should deal with it, but I don’t think the family consists of a bunch of douchebags. I could very well br wrong, though.
At my University it was adderall (to increase productivity). The do-nothings we’re the ones who took oxy or H. Strange that opiates would be so prevalent in an environment where mental acuity is crucial.
What I have discovered in my many years of being married and about other couples and families, is that there is the public image and then there is the private life. Jov Bon Jovi comes off as happily married guy, but maybe behind closed doors there is a dysfunctional family, who knows? I hope she gets cleaned up and moves on with her life and this is a wake up call for Jon Bon Jovi and Dorthea.
IA. And when you’re famous, there’s an even greater need to project that perfect, happy couple image.
I don’t think drug addiction or use is an indication of a bad or dysfunctional family… it just something that happens. It happens to the less fortunate people and the most fortunate people (money wise) just the same. It’s a problem, a difficult one to deal and regardless of Jon and Dorothea’s previous awareness of the issue, I think this episode changes how they will handle Stephanie’s problem from now on.
I don’t get why people think that his money and fame should play a positive role preventing this from happening or how his marriage to his wife of TWENTY-THREE years should be questioned over their daughter’s bad decisions.
It’s just sad, and Stephanie won’t be the first or the last rich girl to go through that route and Jon and Dorothea won’t be the first or the last parents to go through it even if they had done everything in their power to give their kids a good life.
I’m not saying they’re great parents or not, I can’t say that and I don’t think anyone can. what I can say is that like most parents (the exceptions are few and between, thankfully) they probably did the best they could for their kids, trying to be the best possible parents. The thing is shit happens and when it does it doesn’t matter if you’re rich or not, have happy married parents or not, have a nice or bad family environment. I’ve seen cases of people being raised in terrible environment, bad influences, marginality, criminality, etc and still make good decisions. As much as I’ve seen cases of people who had a great environment while growing up making poor decisions.
The only thing I think it’s normal for people who read a story like that, regardless of how famous, rich, successfully married those people are, is to feel sorry for all the involved. I don’t get the judgment, the assumptions, the advices or anything else. It all seems so irrelevant when a 19yo girl OD’ed…
Very nicely put. I agree completely.
I agree. I think it’s unfair that parents are often blamed for things that they may have nothing to do with.
How is a suicide attempt like a drug overdose? Unless you’re inferring the suicide attempt involves illegal drugs?
You’re right, they’re making an inference. Not all suicides use illegal drugs – they use what they have at hand, knives, guns, rope – this isn’t really the same as a suicide.
It’s sad she’s using heroin and it’s unfortunate that she got arrested. My guess is that she will not do any time and hopefully this will cause her to rethink where she is heading and get some help. Once you head down the drug road in a serious way, it’s a battle to stay clean all your life. I wish her and her family well on this point.
I interpreted it as a comment on the fact that suicide is technically illegal. Where I grew up it is, don’t know about the US. I think it’s a weird byproduct of laws that make it illegal to help someone kill themselves or so people don’t attempt suicide in a way that involves others (eg suicide by cop) but I’ve never heard of it being enforced. I mean, being arrested doesn’t help if you’re depressed.
When I was in HS in NJ, I knew someone who attempted suicide. The next day, cops came to our school and arrested him, in front of everyone, and took him in handcuffs! I still get angry thinking about it. Way to help!
When I was in HS in NJ, I knew someone who attempted suicide. The next day, cops came to our school and arrested him, in front of everyone, and took him in handcuffs! I still get angry thinking about it.
Somewhat off-topic but the Bongiovi genes are strong, especially in son number two.
I was just thinking what a sickeningly good-looking family that is.
Damn she was doing Heroin whatever happened to weed and beer? Why do they go for the super hard stuff ? I wonder if she started with prescription drugs? Regardless I think if the arrest will make her snap out of it then good! I wish her and her family the best.
Heroin is actually a lot healthier than alcohol if it is used properly. The biggest drawback is its addictive nature.
I’ve been around this particular drug my entire life….product of growing up in a large city with this drug an issue…family, friends, even my high school boyfriend lost their lives….I personally had an experience were a family friend died of heroin od because people he was with were afraid of going to jail if they did..i know of another time this happened in my neighborhood where they wrapped an od’ing girl in a blanket and left her outside to die for the same reason….there should be no fear of being arrested when a life is at stake, no matter what the cause!!
“Here’s the thing that bothers me about this story, particularly since it’s so high profile. I think people should be able to call for medical help and get first responders on the scene for an overdose without fear of being busted by police at the same time for drug possession. Otherwise you have a situation where a call to paramedics is delayed while evidence is being destroyed, which can be dangerous or deadly to the OD victim.”
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Agree 100%, C/B. Thanks for saying this.
I’m really pulling for this girl. I always loved JBJ and I feel awful for him and his family. I really hope Stephanie Rose can get the help she needs.
I agree with you 100%.
This is also why laws to arrest women giving birth with illegal drugs in their system are so stupid. Just increases the chance that someone with a high risk pregnancy will avoid medical care.
They always call the cops if this happens in a dorm room. This happened to someone in my dorm when I was in college and the cops were called and the student was expelled. Universities generally have policies like that.
I agree with the writers. Addiction should be treated as a medical issue, not a criminal justice issue. Prosecuting her will probably mean less calls to the emergency room and more preventable deaths.
SEe this is where I go a lot nutty on stuff like this. Lets say this is LINDSEY LOHAN & believe me I am not a LOHAN FAN for her or her family why would she not be afforded the same anominity. RIGHT now we keep her in the papers or tabs & that is giving her the attention she seems to desire at all cost. By giving her the anominity forces her to get clean. REverse thinking but to have it equal its something to think about. you cannot have it one way for one & mock & ridicule another that struggles
Heroin seems to be the “in” thing these days,it is all you hear about. It has nothing to do w/social class & it seems to be killing off our youth. I know of a family that lost their son to a heroin overdose, he was in his 20’s, dad was a police officer & mom was a homemaker. This young man was trying to get clean, he was going through detox & his body couldn’t handle it, he left behind a little boy.
People shouldn’t judge or make assumptions. Yes, I understand this is Celebitchy, however we are not discussing the Kartrashian’s being famewhores or Lunatic Leanne~ addiction & substance abuse affects EVERYONE! Have some empathy, not just for this family but for ALL families struggling with this horrible problem…it can happen to ANYONE!
My cousin died of a heroin overdose this fall. The paramedics were not called for over an hour because his “friends” were cleaning up the scene. Could he have been saved if there was no fear of prosecution for drug possession. Could he have been saved? I’ll go to my grave not knowing.
Wow. This is very sad.
Heroin is serious, serious business. Maybe because this girl is nineteen she feels she may not succumb to addiction but she isn’t exempt. I’ve watched more than a few of my friends come close to dying, OD, wind up in prison or psychiatric hospitals because of opiate drugs… so I really hope this young lady gets the help she needs. Nineteen is far too young to die.
I tried opiates when I was about 19 or 20. Not worth it. Some good weed and enjoying a bit of wine a few times a week is the way to go.
Sad story, good luck to her and the family.
Wow, she really got her dad’s face, didn’t she?
How do we know she’s an ‘addict’?
perhaps it’s recreational experimentation-yes, that does exist though of course it’s a slippery slope and can easily lead to regular use…
but it just says they found a small amount along with mj and paraphanelia which prob means needles, a bong, etc.
nowhere does it say she is an addict.
people do experiment in college with certain drugs and then move on….
TOTALLY fair. these laws decimated the (black) urban poor… why are they not good enough for her?
true, the laws are crap. drug addiction is not a crime but a disease and there is the prison industrial complex BUT even if the law is unfair, it should be applied fairly. she should be charged and given the maximum like any black teenage boy from trenton.
I just have to say, I completely disagree with the fact that drug laws should be enforced. To a certain extent, sure. But your reasoning was “this girl could have died and maybe by facing the consequences immediately she’ll get scared enough to clean up.” I personally feel like non violent drug users, such as this situation, don’t deserve to be considered criminals. It’s a different scenario when a user is causing harm and violence to others, but in situations like this, it’s completely bogus in my opinion. Get her the medical help she needed and offer treatment programs or something, but fk getting arrested for something like this.
Not degrading you or your opinion or your writing style or your website here, I’m a very frequent reader and I love reading what you have to say. Just thought I’d throw my 2 cents in (for the first time!)
Come on people…don’t be enablers for her. If Lindsay had been treated like this from the git go with all her acts against the law, maybe she could have been saved.
Did it ever occur to anyone here that she might have just done the drugs for fun and not to escape some “perceived” pain?
Who says she’s an addict? Most young people I know that do herion, do it socially.
Do heroin socially? Ha, maybe in the beginning. Opiate addiction is a force to be reckoned with. One day your doing it socially, the next thing you know your waking up sick as a dog wondering where to get money for your next fix. Don’t kid yourself.
I’ve never seen anyone do drugs, let alone do heroin in a “social setting”. I’m shocked it’s so prevalent. What the hell are people doing to themselves?
I’ve done a lot of work with people struggling with substance abuse, and a lot of the comments on here are really a bit misinformed…I think we all have had some kind of personal experience, but very seldom do outsiders get the whole truth about someone’s addiction. NO ONE sets out in life to become an addict, typically (though not always) some kind of substance is being used at a very young age (alcohol or cigarettes)and goes relatively unnoticed. Nowadays prescriptions pills are often the next step up, as marijuana is also. Addiction happens very, very quickly, often long before the individual realizes it. Soon the pills or pot is not enough anymore, and the next step is cocaine, crack, or heroin. Sometimes its a matter of money – I’ve had clients who couldn’t afford pills anymore and went to heroin. Having money, a disposable income, is probably the most dangerous thing for a drug user. So for this young woman, we have no idea what was happening before this, how long she had been using, and if she had money being given to her at her request it was only a matter of time before it went someplace like this. It’s not about being “smarter” than someone who is an addict, it’s about realizing addiction can happen to anyone at anytime – many addicts didn’t become so until a terrible car accident, a back injury, or a very bad psychiatrist. Even the most responsible drug takers are at risk – you just never know – but there’s not a single person I’ve met that has ever said “I always wanted to be an addict!” it’s usually “I never thought this could happen to me”, “I never meant for it to get this bad”. Please remember this when “judging” someone with an addiction.
I just have to say…..I come from a small town in mississippi and there is a young girl there who has been claiming for 12 years that bon jovi is here father.she has tried to contact him several times and he has never responded……..she is a sad drucken mess and it doesn’t surprise me that he has screwed up some other childs life
the charges were dropped because NY law makes an exception in cases of drug overdose/getting help for someone who may have OD’d because (as you said), they don’t want people to avoid getting medical attention for fear of getting arrested
Doesn’t she look like Moon Unit Zappa?
She’s getting the same treatment as the average Joe or Jane. It is fair. Maybe it will be a wake-up call. What’s not fair is the way celebs get treated when they break the law.
Don’t care if I sound like a square: Just say NO. Seen too many people in my life completely destroyed by various narcotics, people you could never imagine becoming addicts. Just live a clean life, respect your body, and don’t even experiment with drugs, because you never know how it might affect you or how you might get hooked.
Re Ol Cranky’s comment above — And the guy with her was not charged either, because of th Good Samaritan Law.
Well if it were a perfect world then yes, people could all just say no couldn’t they? But guess what, it’s not a perfect world. We all know that teenagers brains aren’t fully formed and they don’t make the best decisions. We also know that there is a genetic disposition for people to become addicts, whether it be an alcoholic or a drug addict. There are also those that try it thinking it will just be recreational, no big deal, and then they become addicts. Who sets out in saying “when I grow up I want to be a drug addict?” NO ONE. As the parent of 2 drug addicts I have learned that no family is immune to this disease. Just because she came from a wealthy family means nothing, other than she would have had more money to buy the drugs. I guess until you have either been in their shoes, or lived the living hell I had to with my kids, you just don’t know what it’s like and to say “just say no” is ridiculous.
Really good thread.
First, by virtue of the fact that she overdosed she CAN’T be prosecuted so reports regarding her being charged are inaccurate. NY has a good samaritan law that went into effect on September 18, 2011 which provides that, barring huge amounts of quantities of illegal drugs, neither the person that overdosed nor the people assisting them can be prosecuted. http://www.ithaca.edu/sacl/healthpromotion/docs/nysgoodsamaritan.pdf
Second, people don’t decide to become drug addicts. This is why gateway drugs are so dangerous. I work with adolescents and I have heard more uninformed young people talk about how it’s not a big deal to smoke weed or drink because that’s all they do. But that’s usually how it starts. With young people doing these drugs and then being around the harder stuff and then trying it. Most people don’t wake up one day and say . . . I think I’ll try heroin. But being in an environment with people who are using other substances can certainly foster that.
Finally, I feel for this young woman and her family but everyone in life has choices. Those choices may not be great, but people make 1,000 decisions everyday. Do I make a right at the stop sign or a left. Do I order buy the bottled water or pepsi. More important choices are often informed by our life experiences and history. Something happened with this young woman that made her choose very poorly at some point and this has led to her present situation. There are people who have addictive personalities who don’t even know it because they have never chosen to smoke crack or do heroin. She did. Let’s hope she will get the professional help she needs to choose more wisely and beat this addiction.
Are we all going to believe that they are doted as this “CLOSE” family and that Jon never missed a school function for her kids yet he tours and is so far up Obama’s rear end that Dorothea is the one raising the 4 kids and that being said there is no way Dorothea did not see changes in her daughters behavior heroine doesnt just all the sudden not show up it’s a bunch of bull now they have pics of Steph and Jon strolling around the Hamptons instead of putting that 19 year old in rehab just cant wait to see what the future holds heroin is bigger than Dorothea, Stephanie and even big headed rock star Jon Bon Jovi get her in rehab DUH! Hope his 4 boys dont dabble.