Bruce Willis’ wife Emma Heming Willis revealed the toll her husband’s dementia battle has taken on her in an emotional new interview.
The Die Hard actor, 70, was diagnosed in 2023 with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a form of dementia that causes a gradual decline in the areas of the brain linked to personality and language abilities.
While speaking with Diane Sawyer during the ABC special, Emma and Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey, which aired on Tuesday, the author, 47, shared that she was treated for depression after his diagnosis.
Emma said she was ‘losing it’ after learning about his health battle, and felt ‘so alone’ and ‘so isolated.’
In order to manage her own mental health while supporting Bruce, she got professional help and hired round-the-clock caregivers to assist him.
‘We are very fortunate enough that we can afford care and many families are not able to. Formal caregiving is astronomical, yet they deserve every penny,’ she added.
Bruce Willis’, 70, wife Emma Heming Willis, 47, revealed the toll her husband’s dementia battle has taken on her in an emotional new interview
The actor was diagnosed in 2023 with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a form of dementia that causes a gradual decline in the areas of the brain linked to personality and language abilities; The couple seen in 2013
Emma — who wed Bruce in 2009 — also said that she’s now focused on bringing awareness to the disease.
‘That is this whole motivation for me to raise awareness about this disease, because we want families, we want people to be able to be diagnosed earlier, when they can participate in these trials,’ she said.
When asked what she would say to Bruce if she could have a conversation with him, Emma said: ‘Just how he’s doing, [if] he’s OK, he feels OK. If there’s anything that we could do to support him better. I would really love to know that. If he’s scared. If he’s ever worried.’
‘You know, I just would love to be able to, just to have a conversation with him.’
Elsewhere in the interview Emma revealed there are moments when the actor’s true self will break through.
‘We get moments,’ she told Diane. ‘It’s his laugh, right? Like, he has such a hearty laugh and you know, sometimes you’ll see that twinkle in his eye or that smirk and I just get like transported,’ she smiled.
Pausing for a moment, she became tearful, adding, ‘And it’s just hard to see because as quickly as those moments appear, (snaps fingers) it goes. That’s hard.’
The couple saw many doctors before finding out why the formerly gregarious and engaged husband and father had become withdrawn from his family.
‘He felt a little removed, very cold, not like Bruce, who is very warm and affectionate, to going the complete opposite of that was alarming and scary,’ she said.
While speaking with Diane Sawyer during the ABC special, Emma and Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey, which aired on Tuesday, the author shared that she was treated for depression after his diagnosis
Emma — who wed Bruce in 2009 — said she was ‘losing it’ after learning about his health battle and felt ‘so alone’ and ‘so isolated’; The couple seen in an Instagram snap
In order to manage her own mental health while supporting Bruce, she got professional help and hired round-the-clock caregivers to assist him; Willis is pictured with ex Demi Moore on his 70th birthday earlier this year
When asked what she would say to Bruce if she could have a conversation with him, Emma said: ‘You know, I just would love to be able to, just to have a conversation with him’
Elsewhere in the interview Emma revealed there are moments when the actor’s true self will break through. ‘We get moments… And it’s just hard to see because as quickly as those moments appear, (snaps fingers) it goes. That’s hard’; The pair pictured 2019
Emma shares daughters Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11, with the Moonlighting star.
Bruce shares his adult daughters, Rumer, 37, Scout, 34, and Tallulah, 31, with ex-wife Demi Moore, 62.
When a brain scan confirmed the FTD diagnosis, Emma said, ‘I was so panicked,’ hearing the diagnosis she ‘couldn’t pronounce’ for the first time.
‘I remember hearing it and just not hearing anything else. It was like I was freefalling.’
When asked if she thought the Pulp Fiction star understood what was happening, Emma said, ‘I don’t think Bruce connected the dots.’
The former model has transitioned into a fulltime caretaker for her husband and has written a book about her experience.
The Unexpected Journey will be released on September 9.
Of her husband’s current condition, she said, ‘Bruce is still very mobile. Bruce is in really great health overall, you know. It’s just his brain that is failing him.’
As The Sixth Sense star looses his ability to speak, Emma said the family has ‘learned to adapt.’
‘We have a way of communicating with him that is just a different, a different way,’ adding, ‘But I’m grateful. I’m grateful that my husband is still very much here.’
She also revealed the subtle yet ‘alarming’ first signs he was battling dementia.
Willis is pictured with family on his 70th birthday earlier this year. His wife said while is still ‘mobile,’ his language abilities have suffered
Willis is pictured in 2019, four years before his FTD diagnosis
She said: ‘For someone who is really talkative, very engaged, he was just a little more quiet, and when the family would get together he would kind of just melt a little bit.’
He soon began losing words, and a stutter he dealt with as a child returned.
FTD eats away at the parts of the brain that control language, behavior and personality. Unlike Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, patients don’t lose their memory immediately but instead undergo personality changes.
FTD accounts for about one in 20 dementia cases, adding up to roughly 50,000 to 60,000 Americans, compared to over 6million with Alzheimer’s.
