Emma Heming Willis opened up about Bruce Willis’s dementia battle, revealing that she moved him into a “second home” to receive 24-hour care. She explained how her husband’s illness reshaped their family life and changed her understanding of marriage.
Bruce Willis, 70, best known for Die Hard, Moonlighting, Pulp Fiction, and The Sixth Sense, ended his Hollywood career in 2023 after his family announced his diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD). The condition affects the brain’s frontal and temporal lobes, often altering personality, behavior, and language.
Heming Willis recalled first noticing troubling changes long before the official diagnosis in an ABC News special with Diane Sawyer. “Bruce loved taking the girls to school, but those school runs just stopped,” she said. She also remembered how the once talkative, engaged actor grew quiet during family gatherings. “He would kind of just melt away,” she explained.
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“Doesn’t Feel Like a Marriage”
At first, Heming Willis admitted she didn’t understand what was happening. She even questioned their marriage, saying their partnership “doesn’t feel like a marriage anymore.”
She met Willis in 2005, waited two years before agreeing to a date, and eventually married him in 2009 in Turks and Caicos. Together, they share two daughters, ages 11 and 13. Willis also has three daughters with ex-wife Demi Moore.
Doctors initially diagnosed Willis with aphasia, which affects speech. As his symptoms worsened, they confirmed FTD. Heming Willis said she told their daughters immediately because she never wanted them to think their father was ignoring them.
Today, she said Willis remains mobile and physically healthy, though seemingly unaware of his condition.
Moved to Second Home
Heming Willis admitted that moving her husband into a second home for round-the-clock care was “one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make.” She explained that Willis would want their daughters to grow up in a house tailored to their needs, not his. She emphasized that they spend time with him constantly at the new home, calling it “a house filled with love, warmth, care, and laughter.”
Heming Willis detailed these experiences in her upcoming book, “The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Caregiving Path,” releasing on September 7.
