Bruce Willis' wife won't 'shield' daughters from his dementia battle

Bruce Willis' wife Emma Heming has revealed why she has been open and honest about the actor's dementia battle with their two young daughters.

Heming, 46, wed Willis, 69, in 2009 and the pair share Mabel Ray, 12, and Evelyn, 10. 

The Die Hard star's family revealed his diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in February 2023 shortly after he retired from acting due to his struggle with a brain disorder known as aphasia - which affects speech and understanding of language.

Heming told Katie Couric in Town & Country Magazine that she had 'never tried to sugarcoat' Willis' illness to their daughters as they had witnessed his decline over the years

She said: 'This disease is misdiagnosed, it's missed, it's misunderstood, so finally getting to a diagnosis was key so that I could learn what frontotemporal dementia is and I could educate our children.

'I've never tried to sugarcoat anything for them. They've grown up with Bruce declining over the years. I'm not trying to shield them from it.

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'What I learned from our therapist was that if children ask questions, they're ready to know the answer. If we could see that Bruce was struggling, I would address it with the kids so they could understand, but this disease is chronic, progressive and terminal.'

She added that she doesn't 'like to speak about the terminal side of this with them, nor have they asked' but that their girls 'know that Daddy's not going to get better.'

Heming said she would 'not allow FTD to take our whole family down. Bruce wouldn't want that' and that she was determined to help the 'next family out there.'

Elsewhere in the interview she revealed the movie icon had difficulty speaking early in his cognitive decline, but she initially took that to be a recurrence of the 'severe stutter' that he had dealt with throughout his teen years. 

She said that his childhood had been marred by his 'severe stutter,' until a college theatre professor opened up a new world of opportunities to him.

While studying acting, Bruce learned that the stutter that was so prominent in his own speech would almost magically disappear whenever he spoke words he had memorized from a script.

'That’s what propelled him into acting,' Emma said.

She added that he continued to deal with the stutter throughout his life, though he developed the ability to cover it up well in most situations.

However, that persistent stutter made it difficult for her to realize that something was seriously wrong with her husband's language abilities in the early stages of his decline.

'As his language started changing, it [seemed like it] was just a part of a stutter, it was just Bruce,' she shared. 'Never in a million years would I think it would be a form of dementia for someone so young.'

The Sixth Sense actor is father to five daughters - he also shares Rumer, 36, Scout, 33, and Tallulah, 30, with ex-wife Demi Moore. 

In September, Moore, 61, updated fans on her ex-spouse's health during an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, saying that 'given the givens, he is in a stable place.' 

Moore, who had been wed to Willis from 1987-2000, opened up on how she has advised her children to deal with the yearslong family health crisis.

'What I say to my kids is you meet them where they're at,' Moore said in the appearance. 'You don't hold on to who they were or what you want them to be, but who they are in this moment.

'And from that, there is such beauty and joy and loving and sweetness. When I'm in LA, I go over every week, and I really treasure the time that we all share.'

In an August 22 post on Instagram Stories, Rumer Willis shared an image of herself holding her father's hand while answering a question about how the actor has been doing amid his health woes.

Rumer said, 'He is great. I love him so much. Thank you.'

In May, Rumer said on the Today show that her father had been doing 'good' and was bonding with her one-year-old daughter Louetta, who she shares with ex Derek Richard Thomas.