Warning: This article contains mentions and depictions of a suicide attempt.
Jon Bon Jovi was filming a music video on a Nashville bridge on Tuesday evening, when he crossed a woman hanging on to the ledge, about to jump. With the nerves of steel of both a rockstar and a good samaritan, the singer carefully approached her alongside another bystander and convinced her to return to safety, hoisting her over the railing and then embracing her.
The footage, which has since become viral online, was captured by CCTV and released by local police on YouTube before it was taken down for violating the platform’s suicide depiction guidelines. After police chief John Drake stated “It takes all of us to help keep each other safe,” the Metropolitan Nashville PD took to X to praise the 62-year-old superstar for his cool-headedness.
Fans were equally generous with compliments for the rockstar’s impressive deed. One woman noted the guts it takes to approach someone in that situation, considering any wrong word or move could result in their death. Many were calling the music legend a hero.
Most of you here wouldn’t understand how difficult/high risk it is to talk a person out of such situations. Any wrong move, you become the catalyst for them to jump. He did a wonderful thing
— Falaq Amin (@falaqamin) September 12, 2024
Bon Jovi was on the bridge overseeing the Cumberland River filming the clip for his song “The People’s House” out of his 2024 album Forever, in which he sings about the divisiveness taking over the country’s social and political climate.
The bridge has famously appeared in multiple other music videos, particularly in the country world, such as Emerson Drive’s “Moments” and Dolly Parton’s “Together You and I.” Originally called Shelby Avenue pedestrian bridge, it was renamed in 2014 in honor of The Tennessean journalist and civil rights advocate John Seigenthaler who, like Bon Jovi, talked a man out of jumping to his death in the 1950s.
Bon Jovi has experience dealing with people in distress through his Soul Foundation which has provided help and support to families struggling with homelessness, poverty, and hunger across the country for 18 years. Although he’s still releasing music, the “Livin’ on a Prayer” musician is now unable to tour after undergoing surgery for vocal cord damage in 2022.
If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (En Español: 1-888-628-9454; Deaf and Hard of Hearing: 1-800-799-4889) or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. A list of international crisis resources can be found here.