Bruce Willis: Wife doesn’t hide his “deterioration”

“I’m not trying to [die Kinder] This is what Emma Heming-Willis (46), the wife of Bruce Willis (69), who suffers from dementia, says about how the family deals with the former action hero’s illness Daughters Mabel (12) and Evelyn (10) saw their father’s health deteriorate.

They had already noticed their father’s “deterioration” long before he was diagnosed with dementia. “I never tried to sugarcoat anything for them. They grew up with Bruce getting weaker and weaker over the years,” says the Maltese native of the “Die Hard” actor’s slow process of frontotemporal dementia (FTD). “Finally getting a diagnosis was key so I could learn what frontotemporal dementia is and so I could educate our children.”

In 2022, he was initially diagnosed with aphasia – a condition that can affect a person’s ability to speak and write. The dementia diagnosis followed at the beginning of 2023. “I say FTD whispers, she doesn’t scream. It’s hard for me to say, ‘This is where Bruce stopped and this is where his illness started to take over,'” she recalls.

She speaks openly with the children about her father’s health problems, something she learned from a therapist. However, they would not talk about the “incurable side” of Willis’ condition and the children have not yet asked about his life expectancy. But the girls “know that Daddy won’t recover,” says the 46-year-old.

Emma Heming-Willis will not allow “FTD to destroy our entire family. Bruce wouldn’t want that.” You daughters would see “how I fight for our family, how I find hope and help the next family out there.” Heming-Willis wants to raise awareness about the disease. “We were able to raise awareness on a global level and they were able to see the reach and impact their father has. That’s a beautiful thing.”

Heming-Willis and the former actor have been married since 2009. Bruce Willis has three other daughters with ex-wife Demi Moore (61): Rumer (36), Scout (33) and Tallulah (30).