Bruce Springsteen Reveals Why He Married Wife Patti Scialfa

Bruce Springteen and Patti Scialfa‘s love is something to strive for.

In a cover story interview with TIME published on Thursday, Sept. 25, the Born in the U.S.A. singer revealed how he knew Scialfa was the one.

“I knew she saw me for who I really was,” Springsteen, 76, told the outlet. “A complicated, messy person. I didn’t have to pretend. I was broken. She was broken in her own way, and we were each other’s personal projects.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Springsteen recalled the first time he met his wife, now 72, at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

“I went, Who is that gorgeous redhead singing like Ronnie Spector or Dusty Springfield?”

Scialfa got offstage, the rocker introduced himself, and the rest “has been the rest.”

In June, Springsteen and Scialfa — who share son Evan, 35, daughter Jessica, 33, and son Sam, 31 — celebrated their 34th wedding anniversary and posted a PDA-filled throwback photo from their first anniversary.

“Our one year anniversary…. Bruce surprised me with a beautiful party…..” Scialfa wrote in her Instagram post‘s caption. “Today marks 34 years … even though we already had Evan and Jess was on the way…. spent the evening with Bruce, Sam and our granddaughter Lily…”

Last October, in the documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Scialfa revealed she had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma back in 2018. In the doc, she noted that though touring had become a challenge, it didn’t impact her love of performing.

“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 in the documentary. “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 okay with that.”

That same month, Springsteen opened up about how his wife’s diagnosis led to him speaking about the importance of cherishing life during performances.

“Hey, you get up around our age, and those are the things you’re thinking about,” he told the audience at the doc’s Los Angeles premiere at the Academy of Motion Pictures Museum. “Patti and I have had to deal with her illness, and you’re worried about… it is a part of your life now, questions of mortality, and it just becomes a part of your life.”