Save articles for later

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.

Six months after he was diagnosed with dementia, Bruce Willis’ wife Emma Heming Willis said it is “hard to know” if the retired Hollywood star is aware of his medical condition.

“What I’m learning is that dementia is hard,” Heming Willis said.

Emma Heming Willis shared this photo of her husband when she announced he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.Credit: Instagram

Willis, 68, retired from acting last year, and was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) six months ago. Heming Willis, who married Willis in 2009, described him as the “gift that keeps on giving” and said she has been a “care partner” since his diagnosis.

“It’s hard on the person diagnosed. It’s also hard on the family,” she told NBC Today host Hoda Kotb. “And that is no different for Bruce, or myself, or our girls. When they say that this is a family disease, it really is.”

Willis has two daughters with Heming Willis. The Die Hard star and veteran of more than 100 screen roles, also has three daughters from his previous marriage to actress Demi Moore.

Heming Willis said her husband’s diagnosis was both a “blessing and a curse” and there were “so many beautiful things happening in our lives” since revealing his condition.

“It’s just really important for me to look up from the grief and the sadness so that I can see what is happening around us,” she said. “Bruce would really want us to be in the joy of what is. He would really want that for me and our family.”

Following his initial diagnosis with aphasia in 2022, Willis’ family revealed his more specific diagnosis with FTD in February this year.

“Unfortunately, challenges with communication are just one symptom of the disease Bruce faces,” his family said. “While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis.”

In March, Heming Willis made an emotional plea to paparazzi to stop yelling at her husband when he was out in public.

“Please don’t be yelling at my husband asking him how he’s doing or whatever – the woohoo-ing and the yippee ki yays – just don’t do it, OK? Give him the space. Allow for our family or whoever’s with him that day to be able to get him from point A to point B safely.”

According to the Association of Frontotemporal Degeneration, there is no cure or treatment that can prevent its onset.

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.

Most Viewed in Culture

From our partners

Source: Read Full Article