Model and entrepreneur Emma Heming Willis frankly spoke about her husband's struggle with a serious illness and its impact on their entire family. She said that Bruce Willis moved to another house to receive round-the-clock care, writes UNN with reference to Hollywood Reporter.
Details
On Tuesday evening, in a special ABC News broadcast, Heming Willis admitted that she made the difficult decision to move Bruce Willis to a nearby "second home," safer for him, where he could live with his round-the-clock care team.
“It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make to date. But I knew that, first and foremost, Bruce would want that for our daughters, you know, he wouldn’t want them living in a house that’s more suited to their needs than his needs,”
The woman added that they are constantly in the second house, spending time with the actor.
She said she first noticed something was wrong even before the actor was officially diagnosed, as he "always loved taking the girls to school, and then those school trips just started happening less."
“I just thought, ‘Gosh, this is so strange, because for someone who was very talkative and very engaged, he was a little quieter, and when the family got together, he kind of melted a little bit,’”
The model and entrepreneur said she initially "didn't understand what was happening" and admitted that she then doubted their marriage, as their partnership "no longer felt like a marriage."
Bruce Willis was later initially diagnosed with aphasia, which causes people to lose the ability to speak, but after his symptoms worsened, he was officially diagnosed with FTD.
Heming Willis said she told their daughters "pretty quickly" because she "never wanted them to think he wasn't paying attention to them." She also noted that she feels the actor still recognizes her and his family.
“I know he does. When we’re with him, he lights up. He holds our hands, we kiss him, we hug him, and he reciprocates, you know, he’s engaged with it. And that’s all I need,”
“Bruce is in excellent health overall, you know, it’s just his brain that’s failing him,”
Heming Willis has also become an advocate for caregivers' rights and insists on supporting families and loved ones living with diseases like dementia.
“It doesn’t matter where we come from, who we’re married to, what our level of sadness, grief, anger, resentment, and all the rest of it is, it’s one common thread that unites us all,”
In her upcoming book, "The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Path of Caregiving," Heming Willis not only shares her experience of coping with the actor's dementia diagnosis but also its impact on their family. It will be released on September 7.
Addition
Heming Willis met Bruce Willis in 2005, but told Sawyer it took two years before she agreed to go on a date with him. They later married in 2009. The couple has 11-year-old and 13-year-old daughters (the actor also has three daughters from his ex-wife Demi Moore).
Earlier, UNN wrote that Hollywood actor Bruce Willis, who suffers from frontotemporal dementia, has almost lost the ability to speak and read. His family confirms his stable condition, despite the progression of the disease.