Richie Sambora Shares BTS Clip, Comments on Bon Jovi Docuseries

Richie Sambora and his 2013 exit from Bon Jovi seems to be even more top-of-mind lately following the release of the Hulu docuseries Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story.

The guitarist shared a clip to Instagram that he captioned, "From the cutting room floor of #ThankYouGoodnight." The clip shows an alternate angle of one of Sambora's sit-down interviews from the docuseries. While some of the clip below was included in Thank You, Goodnight, some was cut from the docuseries.

Part of Sambora's comments that were cut from the docuseries included him talking about a lack of compassion for what he was going through in his personal life, which included his addiction issues and other issues related to his ex-wife Heather Locklear, the mother to his daughter, Ava.

Sambora says, "I was in this organization for 31 ½ years, and everybody has their personal tragedies and things like that, but I didn't receive a lot of compassion coming back for what I was going through. I believe everybody had their own perspective on fame and fortune. Everybody experiences that at different speeds. That's how life can get whacked from one guy to the next and blah blah blah. I was essential because I spent more time with Jon than even his wife and was more honest."

He added, "We spent a lot of time in a room with no windows for the beginning stages of just writing the material ... I was a fan, too. I could be a fan of Jon and go, 'I don't want to hear you sing that.' I wrote him from the song on up, also. 'This is what I would like to hear from you, if I'm a fan in the audience,' that kind of thing. I think that was one of my primary roles, besides being his right hand and an accurate mirror, so to speak."

Sambora took part in Kentucky Derby festivities this past weekend, where he headlined the 11th Annual Unbridled Eve Kentucky Derby Gala. After his performance, People spoke with him and asked about his thoughts on the docuseries.

"It's his project, and it's his perspective," said Sambora. "I have a different perspective on all of that."

While his remarks were brief, they seem to echo previous reports from People about Sambora not being happy with Thank You, Goodnight.  

Reportedly, Jon Bon Jovi said he invited the guitarist to his home to screen the four-part docuseries. However, a source close to Sambora told the outlet, "Richie flew out to see Jon and brought him a birthday present — a really nice guitar — but they screened Jon's documentary instead."

Apparently, Sambora left this screening early and only made it through three episodes. This source tells People, "He disagrees with how they framed his departure from the band and to him, the currency of happiness is more important than the currency of money."

Bon Jovi has been active for over four decades, and they aren't showing signs of slowing down.

Their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame career has netted them over 130 million albums sold worldwide and legions of fans spanning generations.

Narrowing down their catalog to a select number of songs and ranking them is a daunting task, but here are Bon Jovi's 35 best songs, ranked.

A new docuseries about Bon Jovi is set to premiere on Hulu on April 26. The docuseries is titled Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story.

The docuseries also has the cooperation of all Bon Jovi members, both past and present. A teaser trailer of the docuseries offers a supercut of the band's wild career, including the exit of guitarist Richie Sambora.

Additionally, the teaser trailer shows Jon Bon Jovi in a hospital bed. He's holding a dry-erase board that simply says, "I'm good." Meanwhile, an unidentified voiceover says, "Jon's going through his challenges." It then cuts to JBJ saying, "It almost killed us."

The "challenges" appear to be about Bon Jovi's recent vocal issues, which he discussed during the Pollstar Live! conference in February 2024.

Per Ultimate Classic Rock, Bon Jovi said, "It's become public knowledge now, but I've had major reconstructive surgery in my vocal cords, and I never had anything like this, ever. So it's been a difficult road, but I found a doctor in Philadelphia who did something called a medialization, because one of my cords was literally atrophied."

A description of Thank You, Goodnight from Hulu also promises it will delve into the band's "most public moments of friction." Of course, this is likely a reference to the 2013 exit of Sambora, who has often talked about the potential of rejoining the band.