Jon Bon Jovi has been praised by police for helping to persuade an apparently suicidal woman from jumping off a bridge.
The rock star, 62, had been filming a music video in Nashville, Tennessee, when he and a female production assistant noticed the woman.
While other people passed by, the pair approached the unidentified woman, who was standing on the ledge of the pedestrian bridge, and talked her into coming back over the railing to safety.
Watch the moment Jon Bon Jovi approached a woman on a bridge and convinced her to climb to safety
Bon Jovi — whose hits include Livin’ on a Prayer and Keep the Faith — then embraced her in a hug, video of the encounter showed. A few minutes later the singer left the bridge with the women.
Accompanying the video on social media, Nashville police said: “A shout out to Jon Bon Jovi and his team for helping a woman on the Seigenthaler pedestrian bridge [on] Tuesday night.
“Bon Jovi helped persuade her to come off the ledge over the Cumberland River to safety.”
A representative of the singer said Bon Jovi, who formed his band in 1983, would not comment on the incident.
Bon Jovi, 62, set up a foundation which helps people in crisis
DREW GURIAN/INVISION/AP
Bon Jovi has had training in speaking to people during difficult situations through the JBJ Soul Foundation he founded with his wife, Dorothea, which regularly assists individuals in crisis from hunger to homelessness.
“It takes all of us to help keep each other safe,” John Drake, Nashville police chief, said in a statement.
The original video posted to YouTube by Nashville police was removed for violating YouTube’s community guidelines, but was restored with a warning that it “may contain suicide or self harm topics”.
Earlier this year, the Grammy award-winner opened a rock music-themed restaurant and bar in Nashville. He is understood to have been on the bridge filming a video for a new song, The People’s Houseon the band’s latest album.
