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For Emma Heming Willis, husband Bruce Willis’ early dementia signs weren’t immediate red flags for a health issue.
Instead, Emma revealed in an interview with People, subtle changes in his behavior led her to believe there was something wrong with their marriage.
Bruce was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in November 2022, and as Emma explained, “FTD doesn’t scream, it whispers.” It was long before he received an official diagnosis that she noticed something amiss.
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Emma Heming Willis said Bruce Willis’ early dementia signs made her believe something was wrong in their marriage. (Jeff Vespa/VF14/WireImage)
“It’s very gray to know where Bruce stopped and where his disease kicked in,” she said. “I started noticing his stutter started to come back, but I never in a million years thought that was a symptom of FTD. Conversations weren’t really aligning anymore, and our relationship started to shift. It was hard to put my finger on why and what was happening.”
Emma, who has written a book for fellow caregivers, “The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Caregiving Path,” admitted to becoming frustrated with their growing communication issues and the way Bruce seemed to pull away from her.
“I thought it was something I was doing in our marriage that was not working anymore,” she said. “It’s like you’re banging your head against a brick wall. You’re just like, ‘Where is the miscommunication coming? What is happening within our relationship?'”
When Bruce finally received his diagnosis, that frustration immediately disappeared.
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Emma Heming and Bruce Willis have been married since 2009. (James Devaney/GC Images)
“There was relief in understanding, ‘Oh, OK, this wasn’t my husband, it was that this disease was taking parts of his brain’,” Emma said. “Once you hear that, I just softened.”
She also explained to People that FTD has three different subtyped, “one that affects behavior, one that affects speech and then another one that can affect movement.”
Bruce’s type deals with speech. Frontotemporal dementia is a group of brain disorders, according to The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration. Bruce’s specific diagnosis is primary progressive aphasia, which is “is characterized predominantly by the gradual loss of the ability to speak, read, write, and understand what others are saying.”
Bruce Willis retired from acting in 2022. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
While Bruce is losing the ability to communicate in their old way, Emma said in a recent interview with Diane Sawyer that “the language is going, and, you know, we’ve learned to adapt.” They’ve been able to find something new.
“I feel like our love story has only grown and developed more,” she said. “It sounds woo-woo, but it’s just on a more cellular level. I am so grateful that he is very much here, very much a part of our day-to-day.
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“It has meant so much to be able to meet him where he’s at, to enjoy this time with him … Bruce is very present in his body, and there is something so lovely and wonderful about that. He’s not thinking about what happened yesterday or what’s happening in the future. He is very grounded in today.”
Emma and Bruce met in 2007, and they married two years later. They welcomed their first daughter, Mabel, in 2012, and their second, Evelyn, in 2014.
Bruce Willis has a strong support network in wife Emma, ex-wife Demi Moore and his five daughters. (Emma Heming Willis/Instagram)
Bruce also shares three daughters with ex-wife Demi Moore: Rumer, 37, Scout, 34, and Tallulah, 31. Emma shares a close relationship with all four women, and the blended family has been vocal about supporting Bruce and each other as they navigate his disease.
Still, even as different as things may look for Emma today, she feels a strong bond with her husband.
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“Sometimes, love does not need words,” she explained. “I can just sit there with Bruce, and we look at each other, and we laugh and smile. And that, to me, is more than anything.”
