In a new interview with “The Magnificent Others With Billy Corgan”, former BON JOVI guitarist Richie Sambora confirmed that he was unhappy with the way he was portrayed in Hulu’s “Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story”, the first-ever docuseries on the band’s history with full cooperation from all past and present members of BON JOVI. The docuseries was a ROS production, the banner of filmmaker Gotham Chopra, and celebrated the band’s 40th anniversary of its self-titled debut album which was released on January 21, 1984 via Polygram/Mercury Records, less than a year after forming in their home state of New Jersey. Richie said about the day his interview for the docuseries was filmed: “Look, I was out of the band at that point for 12 years. I was actually doing a songwriting clinic at Abbey Road with these young songwriters and stuff like that, and they said, ‘Would you sit for a half hour?’ And I said, ‘All right. You guys get going on that.’ And I walked into another studio, got a little makeup. And I didn’t even know what the premise of this thing was. I hadn’t been in the band for — it seemed like a lifetime at that point, 13 years or something. So I was trying to be funny, and the questions that were coming at me were unintelligent and did not demand any depth of answer. So I said, ‘Cut.’ And I talked to the director, who I really like — [renowned New Age alternative medicine author and speaker] Deepak Chopra’s grandson. And he’s talented. I don’t know what you guys are looking for. What are you looking for?’ And things like that. So, none of it really got in the documentary.”When host Billy Corgan noted that Sambora wasn’t the one editing the docuseries, Richie countered with: “It was six and a half hours [long].”Back in April 2024, prior to “Thank You, Goodnight”‘s release, BON JOVI frontman Jon Bon Jovi told People that he invited Sambora over to his home to watch three-fourths of the docuseries together, adding: “There’s never animosity.”However, a source told People that “Richie flew out to see Jon and brought him a birthday present — a really nice guitar — but they screened Jon’s documentary instead. Richie left after the third episode because he was sick and tired of what he was seeing.”The source continued: “He didn’t like the way he was being cast. 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.”Last May, Richie shared his thoughts on “Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story” during an appearance on the 50th episode of “The Allison Hagendorf Show”. The now-65-year-old former BON JOVI guitarist stated said: “Hey, look, this obviously was [Jon Bon Jovi’s] personal perception. And this documentary was his perception, his baby. I really had nothing to do with it. And there were some incongruencies about time periods and this and that, and it continues on. But, yeah, I think that… I disagree with a lot of stuff or whatever, but I’m not really shaken by it at that point. And it gave me a platform to go, ‘Yeah, here’s some new music now,’ where now it’s relevant because I think a guy that’s been around a block like me in my age needed a platform.”When host Allison Hagendorf noted that the docuseries is a celebration of BON JOVI, Richie said: “It could have been more of a celebration. We could have cut that down to about two hours, because, to me, the celebration would have been the great songs that we wrote and how we sold all those millions of records and played for people for… I was in the band for 32 years, which is unbelievable anyway. [That] five guys could be married for 32 years, it’s incredible. That celebration of those great songs that people really took into their lives, that’s what I believed the 40-year celebration would be myself. But, like I said, it was his baby.”Hagendorf also spoke to Sambora about his quote in the documentary that he didn’t regret his departure from BON JOVI but that he regretted how he did it. Asked what he would have done differently if he could go back, Richie said: “I probably would have left earlier. I might have left a couple of albums before because… I think Jon was moving into a place where he wanted to not really be a band.”When we first met, he was thriving to be a kind of a solo artist in a Bruce [Springsteen] way or a Rick Springfield way,” Sambora explained. “And quite frankly, it was an ultimatum for me when I just, before [BON JOVI’s 1986 album] ‘Slippery [When Wet]’ [was made], I went, ‘Come on, man. Let me in. We have to do this. We have to make this a band situation if we wanna invade the planet and have people accept it.'”Asked what he feels isn’t in the docuseries that not he really wishes people would know, Richie said: “Everything. There’s one thing that’s not in there, and it’s everything. Like I said, to me, this is Jon’s baby.”When asked by Hagendorf about the prospect of him rejoining BON JOVI, Sambora seemed to be open to the possibility. “The fans would just love it,” he said. “It’s not finance. It has nothing to do with that. The world could use it. But, as Jon said, he’s been having problems with his voice. And now he had that operation with some plastic thing in his larynx. And it’s an iffy thing at best. I don’t know if there’s anybody that has ever had that be successful. I’m not really sure about that. And I went to his house and we talked about it. I said, ‘How is that now? What’s going on?’ Physiologically, it doesn’t seem almost possible, where your brain teaches this plastic thing how to… almost like you’ve gotta relearn speech in a way, and things like that. So, like I said, first time I’ve ever really heard of that operation or something like that. So, I would definitely go. [My new solo single] ‘I Pray’ was earmarked almost for BON JOVI. It was almost gonna be that ‘It’s My Life’ moment. So if he gets [his voice] back, I’ll go play. I got songs.”The four-part “Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story” series was directed and executive produced by Gotham Chopra. Jon Bon Jovi is not credited as a producer on the project.The BON JOVI frontman also shared that “there was nothing but love” when Sambora left the band to focus on raising his daughter Ava, now 27, amid his divorce from ex Heather Locklear.”There was never a fight,” the singer said. “Ultimately being in a rock band is not a life sentence. He had to deal with his other issues.”[embedded content]