Keeping his inspiration close. U2 frontman Bono found his muse when he met wife Ali Hewson as a teenager — and the two have been madly in love ever since.
“He was my first real boyfriend,” Hewson told The Telegraph in 2008 about meeting the musician while walking to the school bus top. “It was 1976 that we got together — the same year that [U2] formed. I saw their first gig in our school gym.”
In June 2016, Bono echoed his wife’s story at the annual Glamour Women of the Year Awards, revealing that the big event was occurring on a very special day for the couple.
“We were teenagers. We went to the same school, high school,” he explained to Entertainment Tonight. “It just so happens it was this afternoon [in 1976] I walked her to her bus — isn’t that mad?”
The couple tied the knot in 1982 and went on to have four children — Jordan, Eve, Elijah and John, who were born in 1989, 1991, 1999 and 2001, respectively. Over the years, the rocker has been candid about how he and his spouse have managed to keep their love alive through Hewson’s ability to leave him mystified.
“When we’re leaving for tour, my family is in very good humor, which is a real worry because I’m thinking, ‘Can’t you cry?’” the Ireland native quipped to The Sun during a 2014 interview. “My missus has been playing hard to get for quite a while now, and she’s an elusive character. She’s not easy to get to know and other people’s praise holds not much sway for her. She’s a very independent, smart kind of girl, who, I think, sees me as a figure of amusement. Most of the time, I enjoy her company.”
The “Beautiful Day” crooner added, “I hold on to people very tightly who I think can get me through,” noting that his wife is at the top of that list. “I hold on to her much more tightly than she holds on to me,” he said.
The twosome’s decades-long romance, however, hasn’t always been easy — and the (RED) cofounder hasn’t shied away from sharing the more difficult times he and Hewson have faced.
In October 2022, Bono spoke openly about how the duo share a “grand madness” in their marriage at the New Yorker Festival.
“There’s something about knowing that you’re going against the odds,” he told the outlet. “But I would say if you ask me seriously, friendship can outpace romantic love, sometimes. And friendship is what myself and Ali have. When you have romantic love and friendship, that’s really something special.”
He also gushed about how they’ve had each other’s backs through so much. “Any time either of us got lost, the other would … be there to get the other one home. And I’m so grateful,” he said. “40 years is a powerful number for me. That’s a powerful number for Ali. And it was brilliant when we got to 40, and we went, ‘Let’s not f—k this up now,'” he told the New Yorker at the time.
The “One Tree Hill” musician went on to say that he relies on the businesswoman’s support through his darkest times, noting that they have grown even more committed to making their marriage work over time.
“40 years is a powerful number for me,” he said at the festival about the milestone anniversary, which they celebrated in August 2022. “That’s a powerful number for Ali. And it was brilliant when we got to 40, and we went, ‘Let’s not f—k this up now.'”
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