Who Was Bruce Springsteen’s Famous First Wife?
What To Know
- Julianne Phillips, Bruce Springsteen’s first wife, was a model and actress who married the musician in 1985 and divorced him in 1989, possibly inspiring his album “Tunnel of Love.”
- After her high-profile marriage and divorce, and acting success, most notably on the TV drama Sisters, Phillips retired from acting in 1997 and has since maintained a private life.
- Though she never remarried, Phillips is reportedly in a long-term relationship with producer Marc Gurvitz and is active in philanthropy, occasionally appearing at charitable events.
Though you’re likely quite familiar with Bruce Springsteen‘s 30+ year relationship with life partner and E Street Band member Patti Scialfa, odds are, you’re less familiar with first wife, Julianne Phillips, 65.
Though she doesn’t appear as a character in the new Springsteen biopic, Deliver Me From Nowhere, she was a big part of the Boss’ life in the ’80s; after meeting in 1984, they married in 1985; their 1989 divorce was supposedly the inspiration for his 1987 album Tunnel of Love.
So what happened, and where is the blond starlet, 65, now? Though she hit the peak of her acting career after her split from Springsteen, she retired almost two decades ago, and has maintained a largely private life since — though she has moved on, found a new love, and seems to be active in philanthropy.
Where is Julianne Phillips from?
(c)Universal/courtesy Everett Collection
Phillips’ birth name was Julianne Smith, and she was born in Evanston, Illinois, one of six children. Her family relocated to the affluent Portland suburb of Lake Oswego, where she lived before moving on to Brooks College in Long Beach, California.
After graduating, Phillips returned to Oregon and started working in local community theater, leading to her signing with Elite Modeling Agency in 1982 after being categorized as a “perfect-ten package.”
© Universal/courtesy Everett Collection
How did Julianne Phillips get famous?
She found opportunities to work in both New York and Los Angeles, appearing in 1984’s Summer Fantasy and then the 1984 made-for-TV movie His Mistress (in which she starred alongside Robert Urich), and music videos such as 38 Special’s “If I’d Been the One” and later in a certain Jersey-born superstar’s “Glory Days” (she appears at the end of the video).
She and Bruce met at one of his concerts in 1984. Their marriage was national news, and they actually changed their wedding date to avoid paparazzi. ”People went into mourning when he married Julianne,” a 1997 New York Times article noted. ”People felt he should have married a Jersey factory girl.”
Her 1989 divorce from Springsteen was also heavily covered by the media; supposedly, the terms of their divorce agreement prevented her from discussing it with reporters or writing a tell-all memoir. In a 1989 interview with the L.A. Times, she said, “I have set rules. My private life is my private life and I hold it very dear to me. I know the public wants to know about things, but that’s my private life…It’s difficult sometimes. You walk into a grocery store and see your picture all over the place . . . I know people say, ‘Look, that’s the price you pay for fame.’ I say, ‘No. Where did I sign a contract that says I have to (reveal my private life)?’ I don’t think anyone has the right to take that away from me.”
Everett Collection
After the divorce, Phillips continued to find success in front of the camera, appearing alongside Chevy Chase in Fletch Lives and John Ritter in Skin Deep in 1989 (it was her second time working with Blake Edwards; her first was in 1986’s A Fine Mess, where she had a short scene, although memorable, as she slapped one of Hollywood’s leading men — Ted Danson — in the film). She also appeared with Ritter again in the TV movie The Only Way Out in 1993.
But her biggest break arrived in 1991, when she starred on Sisters, the NBC drama also starring Swoozie Kurtz and Sela Ward (she once said of the show’s trademark steam room scenes, “They were horrible.”) Phillips left the show in 1995, but re-appeared for the season finale in 1996.
Phillips officially retired from acting in 1997, and has kept a low public profile ever since, though she did participate in a 2014 Sisters reunion for Entertainment Weekly, which was covered by the Today Show.
Where is Julianne Phillips now?
She also appears to have moved on from the Boss. Though she never legally remarried, she is often spotted in public with Marc Gurvitz, a producer known for his work on shows such as Real Time with Bill Maher. Their shared home is often mentioned on social media as a site used for charitable or fundraising events, such as in a 2024 Instagram post by actress and musician Linda Thompson, who noted on September 22, 2024, “What a fantastic ROCK4EB event held at the beautiful home of Marc Gurvitz and Julianne Phillips last night!”
Rachel Murray/Getty Images for Teen Line
Her last visible public appearance was in 2019, when she appeared alongside Marc Gurvitz and Jackson Gurvitz at a benefit for a charity called Teen Line.
Rachel Murray/Getty Images for Teen Line
Remind 
’80s Where Are They Now
March 2023
Who can forget all the great TV shows, movies and music of the ‘80s? See what your favs are up to now!
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