Team Richie

To say it's been a rough year for Richie Sambora would likely be the understatement of his life. All of us have our breaking points, and most of us don't know where that breaking point is and hopefully will never have to find out. Unfortunately this year, Richie found his. He went through a very public divorce from his wife of 11 years, Heather Locklear. Started a new relationship with Denise Richards after her divorce from Charlie Sheen, which I'm sure all of you have your opinions about. I choose to believe both Heather and Denise when they say that they were not best friends well before Richie and Heather's divorce. Making this not the case of dating the best friend. I also agree with Richie, Heather, Denise, and Charlie when they say that all of their relationship problems could have been handled better. Then, to top it all off, Richie's father passed away this spring after a long battle with cancer.

After all of that, we find out that he had a bit of trouble holding it all together for the filming of the Unplugged bonanza scheduled to air this weekend on MTV, VH1, and CMT. Resulting in the news report a couple weeks ago that Richie had entered rehab. Tuesday, Richie corrected us on The Today Show, saying that he entered detox not rehab and is currently in therapy following the detox.

So, based on my love of all things Bon Jovi, Richie being one of them cause he can play a mean guitar, I naturally have an opinion about all of this. Do I wish Richie and Heather never had to get divorced? ABSOLUTELY because I wouldn't wish that torture on anyone and I wanted desperately for them to be a power couple that beat the odds. Do I wish he could have found lasting happiness with Denise? ABSOLUTELY because I believe everyone should have the opportunity to share their life with someone they love. Do I wish his father had survived cancer and lived a long life dying some day only of natural causes? ABSOLUTELY, but I know this is very rarely the case when it comes to the horrific serial killer that is cancer.

Finally, the detox and therapy...I believe in the first step being admitting you have a problem. And I believe that if someone genuinely admits they have a problem and genuinely seeks help to control/manage that problem in their life, then I fully support them in surviving that problem. Alcoholics will tell you that you're never cured because it's a daily choice to not take a drink. Maybe you think that Richie should have been able to take more bad things happening to him before he hit his breaking point, and that's certainly your right to have that opinion. But until I've walked a mile or two in his shoes, I choose to support him just like his friends of more than 20 years are doing on his quest to battle, control, and manage his addictions.

Stand tall when you stumble
Stay proud when you're humbled
All the lessons you learn
Won't be the ones that you plan

Every step up that mountain
Will be more than worth countin'
When you walk through the valley
May you walk like a man

Side Note: The new album Lost Highway is incredible. It is a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll, but when they come together with Jon's voice, Richie's guitar, Tico's drums, and Dave's keyboards, all I hear is Bon Jovi telling stories through music like they always have. If you decide to buy the album, get it at Target so you can get the bonus track, Walk Like A Man, quoted above. It's my favorite track off the album.