Bruce Willis’s wife, Emma Heming Willis, has given an emotional update on the actor’s health, revealing that his dementia continues to erode his ability to communicate. Speaking in an interview with Diane Sawyer during an ABC special on Tuesday, Heming Willis described how the 70-year-old Die Hard star remains physically strong but is increasingly struggling with the effects of frontotemporal dementia (FTD). “Bruce is still very mobile. Bruce is in really great health overall, you know,” she said. “It’s just his brain that is failing him. The language is going. We’ve learned to adapt and we have a way of communicating with him, which is just a different way.”
Willis’s family first disclosed in 2022 that he was stepping away from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, a condition that impairs speech and language. At the time, Heming Willis said his early symptoms were subtle but concerning. “For someone who was very talkative and very engaged, he was just a little more quiet and, when the family would get together, he would just melt a little bit,” she recalled. The changes, she added, were “alarming and scary” as they were so unlike the warm and affectionate Bruce his loved ones had always known.
A year later, the family confirmed that Willis’s condition had progressed to a diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, a rare disorder that affects behavior, personality, and communication. In a joint statement including Willis’s daughters, his wife, and his ex-wife Demi Moore, the family said the clarity of the diagnosis was both painful and a relief. Heming Willis admitted the news initially left her in shock. “I was so panicked and I just remember hearing it and not hearing anything else,” she said. “It was like I was freefalling.”
Despite the difficulties, Heming Willis shared that moments of her husband’s old self still shine through. “We still get those days. Not days, but moments,” she said. “It’s his laugh. He has such a hearty laugh. And sometimes you’ll get that twinkle in his eye or that spark. And I just get transported. It’s just hard to see because as quickly as those moments appear, then it goes.”
Willis and Heming, who married in 2009, share two daughters. She has since written a book, Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope and Yourself on the Caregiving Path, reflecting on the challenges and resilience of caring for a loved one with dementia.
