Patti Scialfa, Bruce Springsteen‘s wife and bandmate, has revealed that she’s been struggling with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, since 2018. She discusses the diagnosis, which she received during Springsteen’s Broadway residency, in new documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
“I’ve been performing with this band for 40 years,” Scialfa says in the documentary, via People. “With those first performances, it felt so good to be back onstage. Touring has become a challenge for me. In 2018, well, Bruce and I were doing a play on Broadway. I was diagnosed with early stage multiple myeloma.”
“This affects my immune system so I just have to be careful what I choose to do and where I choose to go,” she continues. “Every once in a while, I come to a show or two and I can sing a few songs onstage, and that’s been a treat. That’s the new normal for me right now, and I’m OK with that.”
“You can see a side of our relationship that you usually don’t get to see,” she adds of performing “Fire” with Springsteen. “Being back onstage with Bruce is a blast. Every night at this tour gives the band a chance to celebrate.”
Scialfa hasn’t been seen performing with the The E Street Band through most of their 2023 and 2024 shows; she told Asbury Park Press last year that she’d been taking time away from the road to work on a new solo album, and for her new granddaughter, Lily Harper.
Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday (9/8), and it comes out on Hulu and Disney+ on October 25.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PfWBrq46IM