SamboraBlog

Long seen as one of show business' sturdier couples, the Bon Jovi guitarist and the actress are said to be struggling to keep it together for the sake of their 8-year-old daughter, Ava.

"Richie is a sweetheart, but I don't know if he can take it much longer," one of his pals tells us.

Sambora, who's 46 and grew up an only child, is said to have begged the 44-year-old Locklear to try for another baby.

"She refuses," hisses the source. "She's more concerned about resurrecting what's left of her career."

Locklear, who starred on "Melrose Place" and "Spin City," has had a busy year — with regular appearances on "LAX" and "Boston Legal" and a movie, "The Perfect Man."

After waiting for her to come home, Sambora has now hit the road with his band. And though Locklear joined the other Bon Jovi wives at the band's show in Chicago, she's been missing from other dates.

Celebrating her birthday recently in L.A., she invited her ex-husband, rocker Tommy Lee, to join the party at Koi. Sambora was not present.

Meanwhile, friends say she keeps her Richie — who, like Lee, is famous for his endowments — on a short leash.

"If he wants to go out for a beer with some friends, she's on his case," says a source. "He's loyal to her. But she needs 24-hour-a-day [butt]-kissing."

Heather and Richie wish their "friends" would shut up. "The real story is that there is no story," they told us in a joint statement. "The truth is that after 11 years together, we are still happily married. Boring but true."

It's also said that Sambora's bandmates barely tolerate her. During one stretch of the last tour, Jon Bon Jovi insisted on riding along in a different bus.

"If Richie divorced her, nobody would be heartbroken," says a source.