“Richie Sambora opens up about leaving Bon Jovi after three decades”

“There was really almost no choice about it”

Richie Sambora. CREDIT: Michael Hickey/Getty Images

Bon Jovi‘s Richie Sambora has opened up about his decision to leave the band after 30 years.

The guitarist quit the New Jersey band led by Jon Bon Jovi in 2013 in order to spend more time with his daughter Ava, now 24, his child from his marriage to actor Heather Locklear.

Speaking in a new interview, Sambora talked about his unpopular decision to walk away from Bon Jovi because he was needed at home to deal with some personal issues.

“It wasn’t a popular decision by any means, obviously, but there was really almost no choice about it,” he told People. “I had a lot of conscious work to do around (my personal life).
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“We’ve been through a lot of things together. That was a time of psychological maintenance for the family. You know, I ain’t no angel. But I realised, Ava needed me to be around at that point in time. Family had to come first, and that’s what happened.”

Richie Sambora and his daughter Ava in 2014. CREDIT: Gregg DeGuire/WireImage
Sambora said he was lucky enough to have a private plane that would fly him back home whenever Ava needed him when he was on the road.

“Luckily I was making enough money to be able to have a private plane…and see my kid even if it was only for one day. If it was Halloween, it was boom, home.”

Speaking in an interview back in September, Jon Bon Jovi talked about the pain he felt after Sambora left the band.

“The departure of Richie, the booze and the drugs and that stuff, it broke my heart” he told The Times. “I got through it with a lot of help, talking to people, reading books, and time. Time heals that kind of disappointment.”