Bruce Willis at the Comedy Central Roast of Bruce Willis at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, July 2018.
Photo: Getty Images, Rich Fury. All rights reserved.
Bruce Willis’ wife, Emma Heming-Willis, appeared on TV during World Frontotemporal Dementia Awareness Week to talk about her husband’s illness.
“What I’m learning is that dementia is hard to endure,” Hemin-Willis shares with the “Today” hosts. “It is difficult for the person who has been diagnosed. It’s also hard for the family. And it’s no different for Bruce, for me and for our girls. When they say this is a family disease, it really is.”
Willis retired in 2022 after being diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. The disease manifests itself in difficult speech and motor skills, as well as changes in behavior and personality. A person’s self-knowledge may also be limited because the disease affects the frontal lobe of the brain. So Heming-Willis shares that it’s “hard to tell” how aware the actor is of his condition.
But she confirms that despite the difficult blow of fate, they find a lot of joy in their life together. “There are so many beautiful things that happen in our lives,” she says. “It’s really important for me to look away from the grief and see what’s happening around us. Bruce would really want us to enjoy what is. He would want that for me and our family.”