Bruce Springsteen’s Wife: Everything To Know About The Rocker’s 2 Marriages

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Bruce Springsteen, 72, is heading back out into the wild with his E Street Band for a tour for the first time in six years! The Jersey Shore native, who has 20 studio albums under his belt, partly originated heartland rock in the 1980s with songs like “Born In The USA” and is known by his nickname of “The Boss.” But who were the women behind him during a legendary career that has now spanned six decades? It turns out Bruce has been married twice! Here’s everything you need to know about Patti Scialfa and Julianne Phillips, the two women Bruce has been married to.

Julianne Phillips

Model and actress Julianne met Bruce in October of 1984 and married the singer on Monday, May 13, 1985 — the height of her new husband’s fame. The two held their ceremony at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Lake Oswego, Oregon, where she was raised. Julianne has impressive success as an actress in her own right, appearing in movies during the ’80s including Odd Jobs, Sweet Lies, and Seven Hours to Judgement. In more high profile roles, she starred opposite John Ritter in Skin Deep and Chevy Chase in iconic comedy Fletch Lives in 1989. As a model, she was signed to Elite Modeling Agency and starred in a music video for  .38 Special with the song “If I’d Been the One.”

The two endured differences in age and background, and by spring of 1988, Bruce’s Tunnel of Love Express touring schedule had taken its toll, and many of his songs on the album reportedly were inspired by his struggles in the marriage. They separated in the spring of 1988, with Julianne filing for divorce in Los Angeles in August, citing irreconcilable differences. It was finalized by March of 1989 — but the “Dancing in the Dark” singer had apparently already moved on and was living with E Street band member Patti.

Patti Scialfa

Bruce and Patti met in the early 1980s when he saw her perform alongside his friend Bobby Bandiera at a New Jersey bar. Bruce was impressed and introduced himself to the talented singer. Patti joined the E Street band in 1984 ahead of the Born in the U.S.A. Tour. Bruce and Patti’s friendship seemed to be deepening, but he met and married Julianne before it could go anywhere. Once Bruce and Julianne’s relationship fizzled and they separated, he moved in with Patti in 1988. The seeming overlap of the relationship caused controversy for the two singers, but Bruce maintains that he and Julianne had separated long before they made it public. “‘I didn’t protect Juli… some sort of public announcement would have been fair, but I felt overly concerned about my own privacy,” he said in a book excerpt published by the Daily News in 2019. I handled it badly, and I still feel badly about it. It was cruel for people to find out the way they did.'”

The couple lived in New Jersey, then Los Angeles, where they welcomed their first child, a son, Evan James Springsteen, on July 25, 1990. They married a year later in an intimate ceremony on June 8, 1991 at their home in L.A. Daughter Jessica Rae Springsteen was born on December 30, 1991, and youngest child Samuel Ryan Springsteen, was born January 5, 1994.