"She was stable enough and strong enough and she brought a lot of love, so those were very healing things over a long period of time," the musician said.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on August 26, 2022. It has since been updated.
In the 1970s and 80s, there weren't many people who couldn't recognize the deep, rough baritone voice of musician Bruce Springsteen, otherwise known as The Boss. But what many might not know is that the E Street Band leader was battling his inner demons through all his fame and it left him "crushed," reported the Guardian. However, there was one woman who stood by him through it all and continues to do so — his wife of over 28 years, Patti Scialfa.
The two first met in 1980 at famed New Jersey bar, The Stone Pony, even before Bruce's music career had really started to take off, according to The Daily Mail. In 1984, when he was planning his Born In the U.S.A. tour, Patti auditioned to be a backup singer for him. And so, during the reign of E Street Band, Patti was the only female band member.
During their performances, they lit up the stage with their chemistry, and off-stage they were just as potent together, making it obvious to others that they fit like jigsaw puzzles. However, Bruce and Patti didn't get together until 1991, after the former's first marriage to model and actress Julianne Phillips, broke down.
According to the Vintage News, Bruce wrote in his memoir, Born to Run, that he had started experiencing anxiety attacks after getting married to Julianne. Something that apparently showed that he was not ready for commitment. He even mentioned that prior to marrying her, he had ended all his relationships within two to three years. But with Patti, it was different.
Soon after the divorce proceedings started, the musicians moved in together. "Patti's been in love with Bruce for as long as I can remember," her high school art teacher Curtis K. Smith told People in 1988. "We'd always heard this and that about Patti and Bruce from [her brother] Michael. It wasn't a big surprise around here when it finally came into the open."
28 years and three children later, that love is still going strong. It is what helps them lean on each other, especially as the 69-year-old revealed he's been battling depression to Esquire, and that she was the one who healed him. "She was stable enough and strong enough and she brought a lot of love," Bruce said, according to The Daily Mail, "so those were very healing things over a long period of time."
According to the news outlet, he detailed his struggles in Born to Run. "I was crushed between sixty and sixty-two, good for a year and out again from sixty-three to sixty-four. Not a good record." However, it was Patti, 66, who got him through it. "Patti will observe a freight train bearing down, loaded with nitroglycerin and running quickly out of track... she gets me to the doctors and says, 'This man needs a pill,'" he continued.
Having been through so much together, they figured out how to make their relationship work. And the solution to that was by understanding each other deeply. "...She had a lot of understanding of where I was coming from and some of the choices I make and a little bit about the twisted parts of my personality that she knew how to handle and live with better than some of my other relationships," he told BBC Radio 4′s Desert Island Discs, according to BreakingNews.ie. “It was a lovely beginning to what’s been a very beautiful relationship.”
And even today, the couple look very much in love, just as they did when they first got together. Looks like the fire they brought on stage continued years after they brought it off-stage.
References:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/sep/07/bruce-springsteen-depression-crushed-born-to-run
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/10/07/bruce-springsteen-wife/
https://people.com/archive/cover-story-romancing-the-boss-vol-30-no-15/
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a25133821/bruce-springsteen-interview-netflix-broadway-2018/
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/patti-scialfas-the-boss-247262/
https://psychcentral.com/blog/bruce-springsteens-depression/
Source: Getty Images | Photo by (L) Michael Loccisano, (R) Dimitrios Kambouris / Staff
