Emma Heming Willis struggled to maintain her composure whilst providing an update on her husband Bruce Willis’s battle with frontotemporal dementia during a preview of an upcoming ABC News special.
The emotional interview with Diane Sawyer, broadcast on Good Morning America, showed the actor’s wife becoming tearful as she described the fleeting moments when glimpses of her husband’s personality emerge.
“And it’s just hard to see because as quickly as those moments appear, it goes. That’s hard,” she said through tears during the preview of Emma & Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey, which aired on Tuesday evening.
The 70-year-old retired actor’s condition has progressively affected his ability to communicate, forcing his family to develop alternative methods of interaction.
Bruce Willis retired from acting following his diagnosis in 2022 | Getty
Despite the neurological challenges, Mr Willis maintains good physical health and remains mobile, according to his wife’s assessment during the interview.
“Bruce is still very mobile. Bruce is in really great health overall, you know. It’s just his brain that is failing him,” she explained.
The primary manifestation of his condition involves significant language deterioration, which has necessitated the family’s development of alternative communication methods.
“The language is going, and, you know, we’ve just learned to adapt. And we have a way of communicating with him, which is just a… different way,” Heming Willis revealed.
Bruce Willis was diagnosed with dementia in 2022 | GETTY
The couple, who married in 2009, share two daughters aged 11 and 13, whilst Mr Willis has three adult daughters from his previous marriage to Demi Moore.
The Die Hard star’s family initially announced his retirement from acting in March 2022 due to aphasia, a condition impacting language and communication abilities.
Following additional medical assessments, doctors refined the diagnosis to frontotemporal dementia in February 2023.
Heming Willis recalled the devastating moment she first heard the diagnosis.
“I was so panicked. I remember hearing it and just not hearing anything else. It was like I was free-falling,” she disclosed during the interview.
The condition, which affects approximately 50,000 Americans, often proves challenging to identify in its early stages.
Mrs Heming Willis noted initial warning signs included her husband becoming emotionally withdrawn and losing interest in activities he previously enjoyed.
“He felt a little removed, very cold, not like Bruce, who is very warm and affectionate. To go the complete opposite of that was alarming and scary,” she explained.
Emma Heming Willis was emotional as she issued an update on Bruce Willis
| ABC
Medical experts indicate that patients with frontotemporal dementia frequently lack awareness of their condition.
Dr Bruce Miller, who directs the UCSF Dementia Center in San Francisco, explained that “the parts of the brain that allow us to suffer and self-reflect are lost very early in frontotemporal dementia.”
When questioned about whether Willis comprehended his diagnosis, his wife responded quietly: “I don’t think Bruce connected the dots.”
Nevertheless, precious instances of Willis’s former self occasionally surface. “It’s his laugh, right? Like, he has such, like, a hearty laugh.
Bruce Willis’s wife Emma Heming Willis shared an emotional update
| GETTY
“And, you know, sometimes you’ll just see that twinkle in his eye, or that smirk, and, you know, I just get, like, transported,” Mrs Heming Willis shared.
She expressed gratitude despite the challenges: “I’m grateful that my husband is still very much here.”
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