Bruce Springsteen and Wife Patti ‘Didn’t Introduce’ Children to His Fame

Bruce Springsteen and his wife, Patti Scialfahe protected their three children from his majesty when they were young.

In a recent interview no The TimesSpringsteen, 75, opened up about why he and Scialfa, 71, “didn’t reveal” their children – Evan, 34, Jessica, 32, and Samuel, 30 – to his fame at first.

“When they were young, if they heard me on the radio they would go, ‘Bruce Springsteen!'” he recalled. “It was their way of separating their father from this character who seemed to be a part of their lives. A lot of times, we didn’t tell them about it.”

Springsteen continued, “They came to concerts a few times before they went back to their rooms to play video games, and they didn’t know much about it beyond what they might have learned.”

Related: Bruce Springsteen and Wife Patti Scialfa Relationship Timeline

Bruce Springsteen got his “Jersey Girl” from wife Patti Scialfa. “We have been together for 30 years. That’s a long one [time] – shared a lot,” Springsteen said during an October 2019 appearance on CBS Mornings. “You know, Patti has been in my life for the second half of my life … again […]

As the children got older, they became more involved and “wanted to bring their friends” to see their father perform. “But apart from that, they chose their own lives, developed their own careers, found their partners and families, all of them far away from the idiosyncrasies of my work,” he added.

Springsteen’s onstage persona also kept its distance from his marriage. “When I got off the stage, I was a driver who takes children to school at 6 in the morning,” he teased.

Springsteen and Scialfa tied the knot in 1991, one year after welcoming their first son, Evan. The couple had a long history before their relationship ended in love. (Scialfa has been a member of Springsteen’s E Street Band since 1984.)

“I’ve known Pats, off and on, since he was 17, and we had a strong relationship as friends until we met as a couple in 1988, when I was 38 and he was 34,” Springsteen said. The Times. “It worked very well… except that I tend to take up a lot of space.”

Although he is one of the most famous names in music — Springsteen has sold more than 140 million records worldwide and won 20 Grammy Awards during his decades-long career — Manager admitted that his children have never been his biggest fans.

“They had their musical heroes, they had their favorite music,” he said The New York Times in 2023, joking that Evan, Jessica and Samuel often “show a healthy lack of self-love” in his work. “They don’t say anything when someone says the title of my song.”

For Springsteen, indifference was a good sign. “I always looked at that as we were doing a good job. … I know a lot of kids who don’t mind seeing 50,000 people insulting their parents. But I don’t know how many would want to see those people happy [for] their parents,” he said. “It’s wrong!”

Springsteen’s family has been in the spotlight for years, and fans recently gained new insight into their lives when Scialfa revealed that he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2018. The revelation came from a documentary. Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Bandwhich premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

“They found it quickly and he has quality doctors who helped a lot. But he’s bored, a lot, and that’s a problem,” Springsteen said The Times. “I’m doing a three-hour program, which is exhausting and I’m at the best of my health. But he was beautiful.”

He continued, “We told you that he can come out and sing a few songs, the important thing is that the fans know what’s going on because they haven’t seen him for five years. Patti decided that she owed it to her audience.”