Bruce Willis’ wife Emma Heming says actor does not realise he has dementia: ‘He never connected the dots’
In 2022, Bruce Willis stepped away from acting after a four-decade-long career when he was diagnosed with aphasia. Since then, the Hollywood icon has largely remained out of the limelight, choosing to spend time with his family away from the public gaze. Now, his wife, Emma Heming Willis, has shared a deeply emotional update on his ongoing health battle, revealing that the actor is not fully aware of what he is dealing with, which she describes as both a curse and a blessing.
Bruce Willis’ Wife Emma shares new health update
Emma Heming Willis, who has been married to the 70-year-old actor since 2009, opened up about her husband’s health when she appeared on the Conversations With Cam podcast.
She said, “I think they think this is their normal. There is this term, this neurological condition, that comes with FTD and other types of dementia as well, called anosognosia, where your brain can’t identify what is happening to it. Where people think this might be denial, where they don’t want to go to the doctor because they’re like, ‘I’m fine.’ Actually, this is the anosognosia that comes into play. It’s not denial. It’s just that their brain is changing. This is a part of the disease. That’s the blessing and the curse of this is that Bruce never tapped in. He never connected the dots that he had this disease. I’m really happy about that. I’m really happy he doesn’t know about it.”
She also shared that the Die Hard star still recognises his family members. The couple shares two daughters, who are 11 and 13 years old.
Emma Heming mentioned, “He is still very much present in his body. When someone says to me, ‘Does Bruce still know who you are?’ Yes, he does, because he doesn’t have Alzheimer’s; he has FTD. He has a way with connecting with me, our children, that might not be the same as you would connect with your loved one, but it’s still very beautiful and meaningful. It’s just different. You just learn how to adapt.”
What do we know about Bruce Willis’ dementia battle
Bruce Willis has been largely out of the public eye since his frontotemporal dementia (FTD) diagnosis.
In 2022, Bruce’s family announced in 2022 that he had received an aphasia diagnosis. Aphasia is a language disorder caused by brain damage that affects a person’s ability to communicate. The family announced a year later in February 2023 the diagnosis had evolved to frontotemporal dementia, writing on social media: “While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis.”
Last year, in an interview with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer, Emma Heming Willis said that “Bruce is still very mobile. Bruce is in really great health overall, you know. It’s just his brain that is failing him… The language is going, and, you know, we’ve learned to adapt. And we have a way of communicating with him, which is just a… different way.”
In the past, actor Demi Moore, who was married to Bruce for 13 years from 1987 to 2000, and the pair’s three daughters, Rumer, Scout and Tallulah Willis, have come forward to praise Emma Heming Willis for supporting him amid his health battle.
