Personal Life
When Rabbitt arrived in Nashville during the late 1960s, a friend gave him a pet chicken. Rabbitt noted that he had "an affinity for animals" and kept the bird for a while before ultimately giving it to a farmer. During his Nashville days in the early 1970s, Rabbitt owned a pet monkey named Jojo. Prior to his Rocky Mountain Music tour, the monkey bit Rabbitt, leaving his right arm in bandages.
In 1976 Rabbitt married Janine Girardi, whom he described as "a little thing about 5-foot tall, with long, black beautiful hair, and real pretty face." He had previously written the songs "Pure Love" and "Sweet Janine" for her. They had three children, Demelza, Timmy and Tommy. Timmy was diagnosed with biliary atresia upon birth. The condition required a liver transplant for survival and the child was slated to undergo one in 1985 but the attempt failed and he died. Rabbitt temporarily put his career on hiatus, stating that "I didn’t want to be out of the music business, but where I was was more important." Tommy was born in 1986.
Rabbitt felt it was his responsibility as an entertainer "to be good role model" and was an advocate for many charitable organizations including the Special Olympics, Easter Seals, and the American Council on Transplantation, of which he served as the honorary chairman. He also worked as a spokesman for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and United Cerebral Palsy. Rabbitt was a registered Republican and "with pleasure" gave permission to Senator Bob Dole to use his song "American Boy" during Dole's 1996 presidential campaign.
Read more about this topic: Eddie Rabbitt
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