Bruce Springsteen has ‘mortality questions’ amid Patti’s cancer

Bruce Springsteen gets candid about how woman Patti ScialfaThe diagnosis of multiple myeloma changed his outlook on life.

“Hey, you get up around our age, and those are the things you think about,” Springsteen, 75, told the audience at the Monday, Oct. 22 premiere in Los Angeles Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Bandper People. “Patti and I have been dealing with her illness, and you worry about… it’s a part of your life now, questions about mortality, and it just becomes a part of your life.”

Scialfa, 71, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2018, confirming her health struggles in the Diary gone documentary, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Scialfa explained in the documentary that her diagnosis played a role in why she chose to step back from the E Street Band’s world tour.

“With those first performances it felt so good to be on stage again. Touring has become a challenge for me,” Scialfa said in the new documentary, according to the outlet. “In 2018, Bruce and I did a play on Broadway. I was diagnosed with early stage multiple myeloma.”

Related: Bruce Springsteen’s wife Patti Scialfa reveals blood cancer diagnosis

Bruce Springsteen’s wife and guitarist of the E Street Band, Patti Scialfa, opened up about being diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, in 2018. Scialfa, 71, did so in Springsteen’s new documentary, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, September 8, per (…)

Scialfa explained that she still enjoys performing. “This affects my immune system, so I have to be careful about what I do and where I go,” she said. “Every now and then I come to a show or two and I get to sing a few songs on stage, and that’s been a treat. That’s the new normal for me right now, and I’m fine with that.”

Scialfa has been part of the E Street Band since 1984. She tied the knot with Springsteen in 1991 and the couple share sons Evan, 34, and Samuel, 30, as well as daughter Jessica, 32.

Springsteen, for his part, recently opened up about how his wife is doing after her cancer diagnosis. “They caught it early and she has very good doctors who helped a lot. But it does tire her, very intensely, and that is a problem,” Springsteen said The Times of London in a profile published on Saturday, October 19. “I’m doing a three-hour show, which is tiring for me and I’m pretty much at the peak of my health. But she’s been great.”

He added: “We’ve worked out that she can come out and sing a few songs, and it’s important that the fans know what’s going on because they haven’t seen her in five years. Patti decided she owed that to her audience.”