Jon Bon Jovi took a walk down memory lane on Tuesday while fondly remembering the ‘cool’ time his late mother Carol Bongiovi was hired to be an original Playboy Bunny at The Playboy Club in New York City back in 1962.
‘I was just born,’ the 63-year-old Bon Jovi frontman recalled on the Dumb Blonde podcast.
‘And with Lauren Hutton and Diane Lane, the actress’s mother, and a woman whose husband was Scott Muni, who’s a legendary DJ in New York from back in the day, they were all the original Playboy Bunnies in the club on [East 59th] Street in Manhattan.’
Jon continued, ‘It’s cool! I’ve seen pictures of her with [Frank] Sinatra, and the whole thing with my dad there, and my uncle’s there, all hanging out in the Playboy Club.’
The late Hugh Hefner founded the chain of nightclubs which employed Bunnies, some of whom were featured in his magazine, to work as hostesses and servers in themed rooms.
Jon Bon Jovi took a walk down memory lane on Tuesday while fondly remembering the ‘cool’ time his late mother Carol Bongiovi was hired to be an original Playboy Bunny at The Playboy Club in New York City back in 1962 (pictured in 1990)
The 63-year-old Bon Jovi frontman recalled on the Dumb Blonde podcast: ‘I was just born’
It was at that same Manhattan location where Gloria Steinem famously went undercover as a Playboy Bunny in 1963 to write an exposé in Huntington Hartford’s Show magazine about their alleged exploitative working conditions, pervasive sexual harassment, and racial discrimination.
The 91-year-old feminist called it ‘the tackiest place on Earth’ and revealed the $50/week gig required women to wear 3in heels, pay $2.50 a day for costume upkeep, endure mandatory blood tests, and ‘always appear gay and cheerful.’
Carol later worked as a florist while her husband John Bongiovi, Sr. worked as a hairdresser, but they originally met while serving in the US Marines.
‘She couldn’t wait to enlist and said that the Marine Corps was nothing compared to her childhood,’ Bon Jovi said Tuesday.
‘So, she went and joined the Marines. Meets my pop.’
Bongiovi (born Sharkey) was the one who bought her eldest son his first guitar in 1975 before he eventually founded his famous rock band Bon Jovi in 1983.
‘[His fans] will touch me and they’ll scream, “Ooh, I touched Bon Jovi’s mother!”‘ the Pennsylvania-born mother-of-three told Home News back in 1986.
‘The caliber of kids that Jon is attracting makes me not worry about the youth of today. It’s the older ones I worry about.
‘I get upset when I see the 40, 50-year old women goo-gooing and gah-gahing over him. I feel like saying. “Hey, wait a minute, that’s my baby!”‘
![He added: 'And with Lauren Hutton and Diane Lane, the actress's mother, and a woman whose husband was Scott Muni, who's a legendary DJ in New York from back in the day, they were all the original Playboy Bunnies in the club on [East 59th] Street in Manhattan' (pictured in 1962)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/09/24/22/102428299-15131049-image-a-8_1758748992262.jpg "Jon Bon Jovi Remembers His Late Mother, a Playboy Bunny: 'I've Seen Her with Sinatra' 19")
He added: ‘And with Lauren Hutton and Diane Lane, the actress’s mother, and a woman whose husband was Scott Muni, who’s a legendary DJ in New York from back in the day, they were all the original Playboy Bunnies in the club on [East 59th] Street in Manhattan’ (pictured in 1962)
![Jon continued, 'It's cool! I've seen pictures of her with [Frank] Sinatra, and the whole thing with my dad there, and my uncle's there, all hanging out in the Playboy Club' (pictured in 1963)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/09/24/22/102428355-15131049-image-a-9_1758749168686.jpg "Jon Bon Jovi Remembers His Late Mother, a Playboy Bunny: 'I've Seen Her with Sinatra' 20")
Jon continued, ‘It’s cool! I’ve seen pictures of her with [Frank] Sinatra, and the whole thing with my dad there, and my uncle’s there, all hanging out in the Playboy Club’ (pictured in 1963)
The late Hugh Hefner founded the chain of nightclubs which employed Bunnies, some of whom were featured in his magazine, to work as hostesses and servers in themed rooms (1963 stock shot)
It was at that same Manhattan location where Gloria Steinem (pictured) famously went undercover as a Playboy Bunny in 1963 to write an exposé in Huntington Hartford’s Show magazine about their alleged exploitative working conditions, pervasive sexual harassment, and racial discrimination
The 91-year-old feminist called it ‘the tackiest place on Earth’ and revealed the $50/week gig required women to wear 3in heels, pay $2.50 a day for costume upkeep, endure mandatory blood tests, and ‘always appear gay and cheerful’
When Carol died in July 2024 just three days before her 84th birthday Jon shared a touching tribute with a family photo-filled music video for his ballad Story of Love, and wrote: ‘Momma, we carry you with us always’
When Carol died in July 2024 just three days before her 84th birthday Jon shared a touching tribute with a family photo-filled music video for his ballad Story of Love, and wrote: ‘Momma, we carry you with us always.’
The Grammy winner’s band – famed for their hits You Give Love a Bad Name and Livin’ on a Prayer – have sold over 130M records worldwide and still average 30.2M monthly listeners on Spotify.
Bon Jovi was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006, and the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018, and they won the Award of Merit at the American Music Awards in 2004.
