Since Bruce Willis received his frontotemporal dementia (FTD) diagnosis in February 2023, his wife, Emma Heming Willis, has been actively working to shed light on the condition. She and her family are navigating the challenges that come with such a diagnosis.
Emma has been open about her experiences, sharing both her emotional journey and her efforts to raise awareness about the disease. She frequently discusses the realities of caring for someone with dementia.
Despite her dedication, Emma shared a critical piece of advice from her husband’s neurologist, which emphasized the importance of self-care. “Caregiving can be really harmful to your health,” she shared in a conversation with NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas. “I didn’t know that, and I was grateful, yet alarmed, that his neurologist shared that with me, and that was a call for me to start taking care of myself, not just for Bruce but for our two young daughters.”
Before the dementia diagnosis, one initial indication of Bruce’s condition was the return of a childhood stutter. This initially led doctors to suspect aphasia, a language disorder that affects communication skills and is often caused by damage to the brain’s language centers, typically from a stroke.
Emma reflected on the unexpected nature of the updated diagnosis: “Bruce had a severe stutter when he was a child that he held onto, actually, his life, but was able to kind of get a handle on it, I think, in his adult years. Then I started seeing that it started coming back. Never in my wildest dreams would I think that was now becoming a symptom of FTD.”
Emma is facing the condition courageously, but Willis’ diagnosis has been particularly tough on their two daughters, Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11, who have witnessed their father’s decline over a few months.
In a conversation with Vogue earlier this year, Emma revealed that her daughters have been ‘grieving’ for their father and ‘miss’ the person he was before his illness. “They miss their dad so much,” she shared. “He’s missing important milestones. That’s tough for them. But kids are resilient. [Although] I used to hate hearing that because people didn’t understand what we were walking through. I don’t know if my kids will ever bounce back. But they’re learning, and so am I.”