Bruce Springsteen's Wife Patti Scialfa Reveals Cancer Diagnosis

Amid her absence from Springsteen and the E Street Band's tour, Patti Scialfa revealed that she was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2018.

By Allison Schonter

Bruce Springsteen's wife and E Street Band guitarist Patti Scialfa is battling cancer. In the new documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival Sunday night, Scialfa, 71, revealed that she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, in 2018.

Scialfa, who did not attend Sunday's premiere, has largely stepped away Springsteen and the E Street Band's most recent world tour, which kicked off in February 2023 and runs through July 2025. Although she previously told Asbury Park Press in October 2023 that she had stepped back from the tour to focus on a solo album and spend time with the couple's first grandchild – their son, Sam, 30, and his wife, Alex Reph, welcomed daughter Lily Harper Springsteen in July 2022 – she explained in the documentary that her absence is due to her cancer diagnosis as she focuses on her health.

"This affects my immune system, so I have to be careful what I choose to do and where I choose to go," she said in the documentary, per 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."

According to Scialfa, she was diagnosed with cancer in 2018 during the run of the Springsteen on Broadway concert residency, the New York Post reported. According to Mayo Clinic, multiple myeloma is a cancer that forms in a type of white blood cell called a plasma cell. These cancerous plasma cells build up in bone marrow. Scialfa did not share further details of her diagnosis or treatment.

Scialfa and Springsteen married in 1991, though they were bandmates long before that. Scialfa has been part of the E Street Band since 1984 when she joined the rock band just before its Born to Run tour, the longest and most successful in the band's history. She has remained a fixture of the group ever since, taking part in nearly every major Springsteen tour since. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the E Street Band in 2014.

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Springsteen, 74, has dealt with his own health issues throughout the group's current tour. In September, the musician postponed all of his tour dates from September to December 2023 after he was diagnosed with peptic ulcer disease. In May, he again postponed dates under "doctor's direction" due to "vocal issues."

The band's current tour is scheduled to run through July 2025. Rock Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band premieres on Hulu and Disney+ on Oct. 25.

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