Bruce Springsteen talks ‘questions of mortality’ amid wife Patti Scialfa’s battle with rare blood cancer

Bruce Springsteen spoke candidly about his feelings about “mortality” amid his wife Patti Scialfa’s battle with a rare blood cancer.

Scialfa was diagnosed in 2018, but only made her condition public in the new documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band.

Now, at a premiere of the film at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles this week, Springsteen has revealed how his own mindset has changed in recent years.

“Hey, you get up around our age, and these are the things you think about,” he said on stage, according to People magazine.

“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.”

Springsteen’s thoughts on life and death were also shaped by his old friend George Theiss, who was his bandmate in a group called the Castiles in 1960s New Jersey.

Theiss, who helped write some of Springsteen’s earliest songs, died of cancer at age 68 in 2018 — the same year Scialfa received her diagnosis.

“As I say in the film, there are a lot more yesterdays and farewells once you get to where we are than there were 30 or 40 years ago,” Springsteen said this week.

He also revealed that he decided to make the documentary now because “if we didn’t make the documentary now, I would be dead soon.” We need to make these while we can.”

The comments come after Springsteen shared an update on his wife’s condition and advocated for early cancer detection in an ad for an ABC special about his upcoming documentary.

“She’s doing well, we caught it early, which was important,” the singer said on Tuesday.

“It’s a serious disease, it’s very tiring,” he told the newspaper.

The special premieres on October 20 at 10pm EDT on ABC. Rock Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, the hitmaker’s documentary, is scheduled for release on October 25.

Springsteen recently said Scialfa is “doing well” amid her battle with rare blood cancer

Patti, who plays guitar in her husband’s E Street Band, was diagnosed with a form of blood cancer called multiple myeloma in 2018 and stopped touring when she privately dealt with the health crisis.

Earlier last month, she spoke candidly about the disease at the premiere of Bruce’s documentary at the Toronto Film Festival in Canada.

Regarding her decision to scale back her stage commitments, Patti explained, “I’ve been performing with this band for 40 years. With those first performances it felt so good to be on stage again.

‘Touring has become a challenge for me. In 2018, Bruce and I did a play on Broadway. I was diagnosed with early stage multiple myeloma.”

She further revealed that she tries to make it to a show every now and then, but she is no longer on stage regularly.

The guitarist added, “This affects my immune system, so I just have to be careful about what I choose to do and where I go.

“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.”

The documentary marks the first time Patti has spoken publicly about her cancer diagnosis.

“She’s doing well, we caught it early, which was important,” the guitarist said Tuesday. ‘It is a serious disease, it is very tiring’

She has been married to Bruce since 1991. They share three children together: Evan, 34, Samuel, 30, and Jessica, 32; seen in 2018

She has been married to Bruce since 1991. They share three children together: Evan, 34, Jessica, 32, and Samuel, 30.

Patti is from Deal, New Jersey, located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County.

The singer-songwriter and guitarist graduated from Asbury Park High School, the same city where Springsteen honed his musical skills before breaking through in the 1970s and 1980s.

She joined the E Street Band in 1984, just days before the opening show of the Born In The USA Tour.