Jon Bon Jovi talks a lady off a Nashville bridge : NPR

Jon Bon Jovi, pictured on the U.S. Open tennis championships in New York on Sunday, is credited with serving to save a lady’s life on a Nashville bridge simply days later.

Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

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Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

Rock star Jon Bon Jovi helped speak a lady off the ledge of a bridge in Nashville this week, bringing a brand new that means to “Maintain the Religion.”

The Metro Nashville Police Division tweeted on Wednesday that Bon Jovi and his workforce had persuaded the distressed, unidentified girl to come back “off the ledge over the Cumberland River to security.”

“It takes all of us to assist hold one another protected,” added Police Chief John Drake.

The police additionally shared a video of the incident, which has since been taken down by YouTube.

However different clips posted by native media and fan accounts assist paint an image of what occurred on the Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge — a truss bridge providing panoramic views of the Nashville skyline — Tuesday night time.

The 62-year-old singer occurred to be filming a music video for his music “The Individuals’s Home” on the bridge, which remained open to the general public, The Tennessean reported. At one level, he seen a lady in blue standing close by on the skin ledge of the bridge.

Overhead footage exhibits Bon Jovi and one other girl from his workforce strolling towards the lady, who’s dealing with the water however notices as they strategy. Bon Jovi greets her with a single wave, which she returns.

Then he involves a cease just a few toes away and leans over the railing. His workforce member, whom The Tennessean describes as a manufacturing assistant, joins them and the three proceed to speak, although the video doesn’t seize sound.

After about half a minute, the manufacturing assistant places her hand on the lady’s again and helps her flip round in order that she’s dealing with the bridge. After just a little extra dialogue, Bon Jovi and his colleague every seize considered one of her arms and assist hoist her over the railing and again onto the bridge.

She and Bon Jovi then share just a few extra phrases and an extended hug. The 2 left the bridge collectively a couple of minutes later, NBC Information reported.

The Metro Nashville Police Division and Nashville Fireplace Division additionally responded to the scene after getting a name from a witness, in keeping with native TV station WSMV.

Representatives for Bon Jovi have advised a number of media shops that he is not going to be commenting on the incident.

Bon Jovi is likely one of the largest names in rock, finest referred to as the frontman of the band Bon Jovi however accountable for a number of solo albums too. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame in 2018.

He’s additionally a longtime philanthropist, and in 2006 based the JBJ Soul Basis, which works “to acknowledge and maximize the human potential in these affected by starvation, poverty and homelessness by providing help in establishing applications that present meals and inexpensive housing whereas supporting social companies and job coaching applications.”

Many social media observers are hailing Bon Jovi as a “hero” and a “saint” for his response on Tuesday. Some level out that it’s not a one-off — he went viral in 2021, for instance, for washing dishes at considered one of his group eating places in his house state of New Jersey in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It simply so occurs that the bridge the place this all performed out was renamed in 2014 after John Seigenthaler, a outstanding Tennessee journalist who saved a suicidal man’s life on that very construction whereas reporting for The Tennessean within the Fifties.

For those who or somebody you recognize could also be contemplating suicide or is in disaster, contact the 988 Suicide & Disaster Lifeline by dialing 9-8-8, or the Disaster Textual content Line by texting HOME to 741741.