Emma Heming Willis on how sharing Bruce Willis’ dementia affected her

Emma Heming Willis recently opened up about how Bruce Willis’ dementia diagnosis affected her family.

In 2022, Bruce was diagnosed with aphasia, which affects an individual’s ability to communicate and speak. Six months later, he was also diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, or FTD.

After going public with her husband’s diagnosis, Emma revealed she was relieved she had spoken up.

“I could breathe, you know, I could actually exhale and feel that kind of weight lifted off my shoulders, but everything changed for the better when we were able to announce his diagnosis,” she said in a video at The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration Education Conference 2024. “I could see the support I so desperately needed for my husband, for our entire family.”

Emma Heming Willis talks about husband Bruce Willis’ dementia diagnosis

At the time of his dementia diagnosis, Bruce’s family shared an update via a statement:

“Since we announced Bruce’s aphasia diagnosis in the spring of 2022, Bruce’s condition has improved and we now have a more specific diagnosis: frontotemporal dementia (known as FTD),” the Willis family said. “Unfortunately, communication difficulties are just one symptom of the illness Bruce is facing. Although this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis.”

When Emma thought about making her husband’s diagnosis public, she felt it was “very important” to make her family’s current situation public.

“There were so many reasons to make it public, but first and foremost it was so isolating and you know, I tried to keep it quiet and really it was about our daughters and… I never wanted them to think this was a thing. kind of a family secret that we had to keep,” she admitted at the AFTD 2024 Education Conference. “I felt like it was really important for us to come out and say what it was.”

The featured image of this story is by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for TCM.