Patti Scialfa, Wife of Bruce Springsteen, Reveals Cancer Diagnosis
Source: Michael Buckner/Golden Globes 2024 via Getty Images
Singer Patti Scialfa, wife of Bruce Springsteen, revealed in a new documentary that she’s suffering from early stage multiple myeloma.
In the documentary, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Scialfa revealed she was diagnosed with the disease, a cancer of plasma cells, back in 2018. While she claims to be in good health, the disease has left her immune system compromised, limiting her appearances with the E Street Band on the latest tour.
“I have to be careful where I go and what I do,” Scialfa said in the film. “That’s my new normal right now.”
The documentary premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday.
Despite the diagnosis, Scialfa has made a few appearances on tour with her husband and his band, albeit brief appearances for only a few songs, to limit her exposure.
Source: Bruce Springsteen, on guitar and backing vocalist Patti Scialfa of the E Street Band, perform onstage during the ‘Born in the USA’ tour, at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, August 22, 1985. (Gary Gershoff/Getty Images)
The singer previously stated she was largely absent from tour the due to recording a solo record and spending time with their first grandchild, according to the Asbury Park Press. She has three solo records; Rumble Doll, 23rd Street Lullaby and Play It as It Lays.
Scialfa joined the E Street Band as a back-up vocalist ahead of the Born in the USA tour in 1984. She and Springsteen developed a romantic relationship in the late 1980s, before getting married in 1991.
She took a hiatus from touring with the band in the early 1990s to focus on raising their family, before returning to touring in 2004. She was featuring on a couple numbers in Springsteen on Broadway.
