Bruce Willis's wife, Emma Heming Willis, has reached out to fans with a poignant message of hope and solidarity amid her husband's "painful" battle with frontotemporal dementia.
Bruce Willis' wife's FTD post comes days after the actor's daughter, Tallulah, gave an update on his condition, saying he is "stable" and surrounded by "so much love."
Amid her husband's ongoing health struggles with Frontotemporal Dementia, Emma took to Instagram to share an inspirational message with his fans, reminding them that "we're all in this together."
Emma's message comes during FTD Awareness Week. The 46-year-old actress has been raising awareness for the disorder since Bruce was diagnosed with the condition.
In the clip, she can be seen sitting on a staircase in Amsterdam while attending the 14th International Conference on Frontotemporal Dementia.
Emma explained that the event usually sees about 750 health stakeholders gather to discuss advances made in the research, and she was present there because she wanted to interview some of the researchers working to move the field forward.
"I'm excited to hear and share their positive news, momentum, and hope during this World FTD Awareness Week to bring a sense of encouragement for families like mine and yours navigating an FTD diagnosis," the model said. "Please follow along, repost, and add your own FTD story so we can continue to raise awareness around this disease. We're all in this together."
In the caption of her FTD post, Emma further shared that she questioned the leading people who have dedicated their lives to fighting dementia, noting that their answers gave her hope for the future.
"Today is the start of World FTD Awareness Week," Emma wrote. "I had the incredible opportunity to meet with some of the leading researchers, scientists, and clinicians dedicated to the fight against FTD."
She continued, "I asked them one question: 'What message of hope can you give to our community?' Their answers remind me that together, we are making great strides, and every step forward brings us closer to better care, treatments, and a future filled with so much hope."
Emma's call for fans to add their "own FTD story" sparked an outpouring of support and empathy from her followers, who took to the comment section to share their stories and commend her for standing beside Bruce through his struggles.
The daughter of the Die Hard actor and actress Demi Moore gave rare insight into how the family is doing amid his diagnosis.
Actor Bruce Willis might be a talented actor known to the public for his roles in iconic films like Die Hard, The Sixth Sense and Pulp Fiction, but to kids Rumer, 36, Scout, 33, and Tallulah, 30, he's simply known for being "Dad." And after the now-retired actor's family announced his dementia diagnosis last February, that is more than enough for them.
"He's doing stable, which in this situation is good, and is hard. There's painful days, but there's so much love," Tallulah told Today. "It's really shown me to not take any moment for granted ... I think he's very proud of me. You have to be in the moment. You have to be present."
According to a statement shared by Bruce's current wife, Emma Heming, the two children they share (Mabel, 12, and Evelyn, 10) as well as his older daughters and ex-wife Demi, the 69-year-old actor had first been diagnosed with aphasia, a language disorder that affects a person's ability to express or understand language, in the spring of 2022, which then progressed to frontotemporal dementia by February 2023.
"Every time I go dad's house, I take tons of photos—of whatever I see, the state of things. I'm like an archaeologist, searching for treasure in stuff that I never used to pay much attention to," Tallulah wrote in a Vogue article a few months after the diagnosis was announced to the public. "I have every voicemail from him saved on a hard drive. I find that I'm trying to document, to build a record for the day when he isn't there to remind me of him and of us."
Bruce Willis was seen in a rare public outing as his dementia diagnosis progresses.
Onlookers said Willis, 69, looked weary as he stared out the car's passenger window and took in his surroundings.
As his family prepares for the tragic inevitable, they have reportedly prioritized making sure the beloved father-of-five feels safe and comfortable.
"He rarely goes out, but when he does it's a carefully orchestrated operation."
"He needs help getting ready and getting to the car."
Willis additionally has caretakers with him "24/7 who supervise him and make sure he's OK and doesn't get confused or flustered", as well as "bodyguards to buffer him from the public".
Meanwhile, his ex-wife Demi Moore, current wife Emma Heming, and his adult daughters – Tallulah, Rumer, and Scout – are said to be making the most of his final days as a source revealed his diagnosis has progressed further.
The source said: "The disease has progressed to the point where his family worries they may not have much more time with Bruce left.
"They wonder whether he'll even make it to his 70th birthday."
The insider noted his decline has been hard on his family, adding: "It's heartbreaking for the family to see him so vulnerable and dependent.
"The Bruce they remember used to be full of energy and masculine pride. Now he seems helpless."
Willis' condition has progressed to the point where he no longer recognizes those closest to him, including Moore.
Moore recently opened up about coping with her ex-husband's health battle.
She said: "When you let go of who they've been or who you think they (should be), or who even you would like them to be, you can then really stay in the present and take in the joy and the love that is present."
Tallulah agreed with her mother and revealed in a recent interview: "Our visits have so much love and I feel that.
"And that overarches everything for me – being able to have that connection.
"I know he knows how much I love him. I know how much he loves me. I know how much he loves all of us."
Since Willis was diagnosed with aphasia in March 2022 – and later diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in February 2023 – his ex-wife and current wife have joined forces to ensure his remaining days are filled with family and compassion.
Heming has devoted herself to celebrating holidays, birthdays, and every milestone in between as a family.
"The whole family is always showering Bruce with love and affection.
"Emma's making his favorite dishes, they watch home movies together, they talk about fun times."
They added Bruce has "good days and bad days" but "when he laughs at something or has that old sparkle in his eye, they feel so good".
After first being diagnosed with aphasia in the spring of 2022, actor Bruce Willis was formally diagnosed almost a year later with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a debilitating disorder that can affect a patient's personality, socials skills and speech.
Willis's journey is common, as it takes an average of 3.6 years to get an accurate FTD diagnosis. This week (Sept. 22-29) is World FTD Awareness Week, which aims to shed light on this often misunderstood and misdiagnosed disorder.
"FTD is vastly underdiagnosed due to lack of awareness among the general public and clinicians, therefore, the need for these public awareness campaigns, resolutions and proclamations," said Darby Morhardt, a research professor at the Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, which has been a leader in FTD diagnosis, treatment, research and care.
"Our clinic has always seen a fairly steady number of people living with FTD, but we are a specialty clinic where people find us eventually after seeing two to three physicians or more, and living with a lot of confusion, anxiety and uncertainty often for years before they get an accurate diagnosis," Morhardt said.
FTD represents a group of brain disorders caused by degeneration of the frontal and/or temporal lobes of the brain. It affects people between the ages of 21 and 80, with the largest percentage of those affected being between 45 and 64.
One type of FTD is primary progressive aphasia (PPA), a rare, overlooked and underserved syndrome that destroys a person's language. Dr. Marsel Mesulam
Bruce Willis was once one of the most prolific actors in Hollywood. He was ahead of his time in many ways, including starting the exodus from Tinseltown to Idaho in the late 80s. That's when he and Demi Moore moved to Hailey to get away from California madness. He loved it there so much that by 1994, he had anonymously bought up most of the town under the name "Ix Nay Investment Trust."
Some of his secret Hailey properties included the popular nightclub The Mint and a diner called Shorty's. Once people discovered he was developing their town, a culture war broke out between the Hollywood elite and the small-town Idaho locals. The thing he loved about Hailey was how different it was from Hollywood. At the same time, Hailey hated the attention and the Hollywood lifestyle he brought to Hailey. Once people found out that he was the one developing their town, a culture war broke out between the Hollywood elite and the small-town Idaho locals.
Some of his improvements were amazing, and the businesses he brought back from the ashes once again became real fixtures of the community. But, just when the town started getting used to Bruce and his money, he and Demi Moore divorced and abandoned the city. He shut down all of his businesses and crushed the local economy. Some residents still resent him for it.
He finally sold his 8,400-square-foot, six-bedroom Hailey mansion in 2018. The home had a heated pool with waterslides, waterfalls, and a rope swing. Initially listed in 2011 and again in 2016 for $15 million, he finally sold it for a Hailey record price of $5.5 million.
In March of 2022, Willis stepped away from acting after being diagnosed with Aphasia, a condition that the Mayo Clinic says robs you of the ability to communicate. Most people don't live more than seven years after their diagnosis. We haven't seen much of him since then, and according to a report by InTouch, he may not have much time left.
The InTouch report says his family fears he won't make it to his 70th birthday on March 19th.
