'Where's Patti?': Bruce Springsteen and wife Patti Scialfa open up about her rare blood cancer diagnosis

Bruce Springsteen has opened up about his wife Patti Scialfa's decision to reveal her health battle with a rare blood cancer six years on from her diagnosis.

In the recently released trailer for new documentary Bruce Springsteen: Backstage and Backstreets, the rocker revealed how his wife and fellow band member is feeling after only sharing the news of her battle with multiple myeloma a month ago.

"It's a tough disease. It's very fatiguing," the rocker explained, before revealing the reason they decided to wait to publicly reveal the diagnosis.

Watch the video above

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"She hadn't played in the band in a long time, and people, I don't think, knew why," he said.

"'Where's Patti?'" he said people would ask.

According to Australian Cancer Council, "Myeloma is a type of blood cancer that develops from plasma cells in the bone marrow. Myeloma is often called multiple myeloma because most people (90 per cent) have multiple bone lesions at the time it is diagnosed."

"She's doing good," the 75-year-old revealed of his wife's health. "We caught it early, which was important."

The Born in the USA singer opened up about his family as he visited The Stone Pony concert venue in Asbury Park, New Jersey, where he first met his wife and they "struck up a friendship" after speaking by the "back bar".

Scialfa had later joined Springsteen's E Street Band in 1984, and the pair were married years later in 1991. They now share three children: Evan, 34, Jessica, 32, and Sam, 30.

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Scialfa revealed the challenges she now faces with performing.

"I've been performing with this band for 40 years. With those first performances, it felt so good to be back onstage. Touring has become a challenge for me," she shared in Road Diary.

"In 2018, well, Bruce and I were doing a play on Broadway. I was diagnosed with early stage multiple myeloma."

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The 71-year-old shared that the illness has forced her to live cautiously. "This affects my immune system so I just have to be careful what I choose to do and where I choose to go," she said.

"Every once in a while, I come to a show or two and I can sing a few songs onstage, and that's been a treat.

"That's the new normal for me right now, and I'm OK with that."

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