Bruce Willis’ wife, model Emma Heming Willis, shared some heartbreaking details about her experience as a caregiver in the wake of the star actor’s recent dementia diagnosis.
Willis, perhaps best known for his recurring star role in “Die Hard” among a number of other films, was recently diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, for which there is no known cure.
His family announced the diagnosis in February 2023.
That announcement came just a year after the star actor had announced his retirement from acting due to developing aphasia, a brain condition that inhibits communication.
Less than a year after his family announcement, and lining up with the start of World Frontotemporal Dementia Awareness Week on Monday, Heming Willis is shedding some light on her side of this experience, as well as an update on Bruce.
Speaking to Today, Heming Willis first made it abundantly clear: “Dementia is hard.”
“It’s hard on the person diagnosed; it’s also hard on the family,” she added. “And that is no different for Bruce, or myself, or our girls. When they say this is a family disease, it really is.”
Exclusive: In honor of World Frontotemporal Dementia Awareness week, Bruce Willis’ wife Emma Heming Willis speaks to @hodakotb about the condition in her first interview since his diagnosis.
“It was the blessing and the curse,” Emma said of receiving Bruce’s diagnosis. pic.twitter.com/VY5yhVjZIf
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) September 25, 2023
Heming Willis added that it was “hard to know” if Bruce Willis was even aware he had this debilitating disease.
But not everything was dour and depressing. Heming Willis shared some of the silver linings she and her family had been able to glean during Bruce’s difficult time.
Namely, Heming Willis praised her husband’s work with their two young daughters and teaching them about “love, patience and resilience.”
“It’s teaching them so much and how to care and love, and it’s really a beautiful thing amongst the sadness,” she said.
This is hardly the first time that Heming Willis has gone to bat for her husband in a public forum.
Back in March, Heming Willis actually took to social media to both solicit advice on being a dementia patient caregiver, as well as asking paparazzi to offer her husband some space.
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“This one is going out to the photographers and the video people that are trying to get those ‘exclusives’ of my husband out and about: Just keep your space,” Heming Willis said.
She added: “I know this is your job, but maybe just keep your space. For the video people, please don’t be yelling at my husband, asking him how he’s doing … just don’t do it, okay?”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.