Bruce Springsteen Makes Pancakes for Family after Wife of 31 Years Saved Him from Crippling Depression

• Bruce Springsteen's wife saved him when he was at his lowest, underweight and exhausted.

• He focused on his children and family, despite having a booming career.

• Although he's one of history's most successful musicians, the star still cooks pancakes for his children.

Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa were New Jersey natives who grew up ten miles away from each other, moving in the same social circles.

Scialfa dreamt of working in the music industry since she was a teenager and knew Springsteen's bandmates and friends for years before meeting him in 1980 at New Jersey's The Stone Pony bar.

Four years later, Springsteen was working on his "Born In the U.S.A." tour when Scialfa auditioned as a backup singer to become the only woman in Springsteen's E Street Band. The pair hit it off, and the star soon separated from his first wife, Julianne Phillips, and Springsteen and Scialfa moved in together.

Curtis K. Smith, Scialfa's high school art teacher noted in 1988 how it wasn't a surprise. She knew Scialfa had been in love with the singer longer than he could recall. Smith added:

"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."

During a 2022 interview on "The Howard Stern Show," Springsteen told host Howard Stern that he and Scialfa had been outsiders, and when they got together, they promised to make their relationship work, and it did. By November 2022, the couple had been together for more than three decades.

In July 2022, Springsteen and his second wife became first-time grandparents when one of their children welcomed a baby girl named Lily Harper Springsteen.

The couple announced the news with a photo of their son, Sam, standing in front of a baby stroller with his partner. A second image was a close-up of little Lilly.

Wife Saved Bruce When He Was at His Lowest

Although Springsteen and his wife have a lot to celebrate these days, things haven't always been easy for them. In 2016, he opened up about his battle with depression. The singer explained how Scialfa had brought him what he needed during those trying times and credited her for his well-being, stating:

"She was stable enough and strong enough and she brought a lot of love, you know, so those were very healing things over a long period of time."

The "Born To Run" autobiographer also noted how depression had been "part of the roots" of his music. In his book, he also revealed that his father had struggled with the same disease, believing genetics and his childhood experiences were factors.

Due to his depression, Springsteen's physical health started to suffer, he was underweight despite eating only fast food. Soon enough, his energy levels were depleted to the point that he needed assistance to be removed from the stage.

Eventually, the singer found the push he needed to improve his life and started exercising, lifting weights thrice weekly and running six miles on a treadmill.

While he became healthier physically, his mental health still suffered, so he developed skills to cope with the depression. He learned it was mainly biochemistry, and he needed more than an exercise regime to control it.

Self-realization helped him cope, along with his wife by his side. The singer said Scialfa helped with his recovery as she would take him to doctors and get him help when needed.

She was the only relationship where he felt his depression was understood, making their love unique and much more profound. He even credited her for helping "heal him" in his time of need.

Bruce Cooks Pancakes for the Whole Family

While he might be a famous musician, Springsteen's career wasn't the main focus of his life. The star put his family first and even went out of his way to prepare meals for them when he had the chance.

In his memoir, he revealed how he'd promised never to lose his children the way his father lost him. Once he and his wife had children, they knew their offspring would be their priority.

Due to Scialfa's insistence, their tours were booked to work around their children's school schedules, birthdays, and events. The singer worked hard to be a present father, and when he couldn't, his wife handled things.

However, he [Bruce Springsteen] knew some things would filter down to them because that's how life worked.

When the children got older, Springsteen was still sleeping in until noon because of his work until his wife told him he was missing out on being with their brood in the mornings. She told him their children needed him the most during that time and were different than at any time of the day.

Hearing this, the following day, at seven in the morning, Springsteen dragged himself out of bed and asked what he had to do. His wife advised him to make pancakes, and when he grumbled about not knowing how, she told him to learn, and he did. He revealed:

"Feeding your children is a great act of intimacy and I received my rewards, the sounds of forks clattering on breakfast plates, toast popping out of the toaster, and the silent approval of morning ritual. If I hadn’t gotten up, I would’ve missed it."

Scialfa once confessed that when the family, including their three children—Evan, Jessica, and Sam—got together at the couple's Colts Neck, New Jersey home, she and her husband made breakfast.

They would wake up early and prepare pancakes, oatmeal, scrambled eggs, and bacon. They liked spending time together as a family before everyone went their separate ways.

Springsteen also shared how they'd always done it that way. He also wished his children would pursue their dreams, but they could always count on him and Scialfa to be there for them if things didn't work out.

The "Spanish Dancer" singer once admitted that there were many mistakes he didn't want to make while raising his children so they wouldn't have to heal from those things. He wanted them to face their faults and deal with them.

However, he knew some things would filter down to them because that's how life worked. Still, Springsteen believes in doing one's best as a parent, not exposing the children to too many of his issues.