Bruce Springsteen's Wife and Bandmate Reveals Cancer Battle

Bruce Springsteen premiered his new documentary, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band , at the Toronto Film Festival on Sunday night. And among the revelations in the film is that his wife and bandmate of 40 years Patti Scialfa has been battling a form of blood cancer.

Scialfa was diagnosis with multiple myeloma in 2018, which according to the Mayo Clinic , is a cancer that forms in a type of white blood cell called a plasma cell.

"This affects my immune system, so I have to be careful what I choose to do and where I choose to go,” Scialfa says in the film, via Variety . “Every once in a while, I come to a show or two and I can sing a few songs on stage, and that’s been a treat. That’s the new normal for me right now, and I’m OK with that."

Springsteen and Scialfa met at the at The Stone Pony bar and music venue in Asbury Park in the early 1980s, and she joined his band in 1984. The two went on to marry in 1991, and share three children together.

The new documentary follows Springsteen on his most recent world tour and also features behind-the-scenes footage. Scialfa told the Asbury Park Press last year ahead of being inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame that she had stepped down from touring to spend time with the couple's first grandchild who was born in 2022.

“I didn’t feel as needed in a way because there were a lot of musicians on stage," she said at the time, but noted that she was planning to resume touring in 2024. “I did the first couple of shows, and as I saw how it was all rolling, I thought, 'This is good. This is completely intact. There’s not much room for me to add anything special.'"

Scialfa added that she also took the time to work on her own solo record, which she couldn't do when Springsteen was home as he was always in the studio.

Springsteen himself was forced to postpone tour dates from September through December of 2023 due to treatment for peptic ulcer disease. However, in Road Diary , he admits that he doesn't plan on retiring anytime soon and hopes to keep performing until "the wheels come off."