Bruce Springsteen has released his new documentary. Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street BandSunday night at the Toronto Film Festival. And one of the revelations in the film is that his wife and bandmate of 40 years, Patti Scialfa, is battling a form of blood cancer.
Scialfa was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2018. It's a type of cancer that forms in a type of white blood cell called a plasma cell, according to the Mayo Clinic.
“It affects my immune system, so I have to be careful about what I choose to do and where I choose to go,” Scialfa says in the film. Diversity“Every once in a while I get to come to a show or two and sing a few songs on stage and it's been a pleasure. It's the new normal for me right now and I'm happy with it.”
Springsteen and Scialfa met at The Stone Pony bar and music venue in Asbury Park in the early 1980s, and Scialfa joined Springsteen's band in 1984. The two married in 1991 and have three children.
The new documentary follows Springsteen’s latest world tour and also includes behind-the-scenes footage. Scialfa, Asbury Park Press Last year, before being inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame, he announced that he was stepping back from touring and wanted to spend time with the couple's first grandchild, who was born in 2022.
“I didn't feel the need for an overhaul because there were so many musicians on stage,” he said at the time, but he did note that he planned to continue touring in 2024. “I did the first couple of shows and saw how everything was going, and I thought, 'This is good. This is completely intact. There's not a lot of room for me to add anything special.'”
Scialfa said that while Springsteen was home, he also took the time to work on his own solo album because Springsteen was always in the studio.
Springsteen himself had to postpone tour dates from September to December 2023 due to treatment for peptic ulcer disease. However, Road DiaryHe admits that he has no plans to retire anytime soon and hopes to continue performing until “things work out.”