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Bruce Willis’ wife has given an update to the actor’s state of health. Two years after he was diagnosed with a frontotemporal dementia. She said he was “overall in really great health”.
Diagnosis and first signs
Emma Heming Willis spoke to Diane Sawyer about the condition of her husband in the new ABC show “Emma & Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey”, DieMa tomorrow at Hulu and Disney+. In a preview, Heming Willis explained that the family had to find new ways to communicate with Bruce: “It is only his brain that lets him down.”
“Bruce is still very mobile. Bruce is in really great health, you know,” said Heming Willis. “It is only his brain that lets him down … the language disappears and we have learned to adapt. We have a way of communicating with him that is simply different.”
In 2022, the family had made public that Willis suffered from aphasia – a language disorder that makes communication difficult. Heming Willis told Sawyer that she noticed changes before the diagnosis: “He was just quieter in society, where he was otherwise very talkative and committed.”
“When the family came together, he retired a little,” said Heming Willis. “He looked away, very cool. Not like Bruce, who was otherwise very warm and loving. Experiencing the opposite was scary.”
Second diagnosis and difficult everyday life
The confirmation came almost a year after the aphasia diagnosis: frontotemporal dementia. According to the Association for Frontotemporal degeneration (AFTD), the disease is individual, affects behavior, language and movements – and inevitably leads to a decline in skills.
Today, two years after the diagnosis, Heming Willis reports that the family is still experiencing “moments” from Bruce ‘old, lively being. “I mean, we still have them. Not a whole day, but moments,” she said. “His laugh – he has such a hearty laugh. And sometimes you see this sparkle in his eyes, and I am simply moved back. But they disappear as quickly as these moments come.”
Book of care experiences
On September 9th, Heming Willis’ book on her experience as a caring relative appears: “The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Caregiving Path”.