Bruce Springsteen updated fans about wife Patti Scialfa’s health after she received a multiple myeloma diagnosis in 2018 and stopped performing with the band.
Bruce Springsteen gave a glimpse into wife Patti Scialfa’s cancer battle after she revealed last month that she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2018.
Due to her health concerns, Scialfa took a step away from touring on the Springsteen and E Street Band tour, which kicked off in February 2023 and concludes July 2025.
In a trailer for an upcoming ABC News special, “Bruce Springsteen: Backstage and Backstreets,” the singer, 75, shared an update on his wife’s health.
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“She’s doing good,” Springsteen told George Stephanopoulos. “We caught it early, which was important.”
“It’s a tough disease,” Springsteen said of his wife’s cancer. “It’s very fatiguing.”
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The “Born to Run” musician and his wife of 33 years explained why they waited to disclose her diagnosis.
“She hadn’t played in the band in a long time, and people I don’t think knew why,” he said. “‘Where’s Patti?’”
Scialfa joined the band in 1984, and the couple tied the knot seven years later in 1991. Bruce and Patti have three children: Evan, Jessica and Sam.
At the Toronto Film Festival premiere of Springsteen’s documentary, “Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band,” Scialfa, 71, announced that she had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2018. Per the Mayo Clinic, multiple myeloma is “a cancer that forms in a type of white blood cell called a plasma cell.”
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“I’ve been performing with this band for 40 years. With those first performances, it felt so good to be back onstage. Touring has become a challenge for me,” she said in the documentary. “In 2018, well, Bruce and I were doing a play on Broadway. I was diagnosed with early stage multiple myeloma.”
The diagnosis affected her immune system, which made her more cautious about performing.
“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,” Scialfa said. “That’s the new normal for me right now, and I’m OK with that.”
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Springsteen has been battling his own health concerns over the past year. Since the initial postponement of his tour last summer due to a peptic ulcer that made singing so painful he couldn’t do it for months, health issues have continued to plague Springsteen.
The “Born in the U.S.A.” singer had to postpone all concerts within a 10-day period per doctors’ orders in May after suffering vocal issues.
The ABC special airs Oct. 20 at 10 p.m. EST on ABC and will stream on Hulu.
Fox News Digital’s Janelle Ash contributed to this report.
