Bruce Willis’ family members are shedding light on life with the actor amid his struggles with frontotemporal dementia.
On Father’s Day, Willis’ daughter Rumer Willis and his wife, Emma Heming, shared emotional posts on social media to honor the family patriarch. Neither gave specific details of Willis’ condition, but both suggested that the disease had taken a toll on the 70-year-old actor.
Rumer Willis, in her post, addressed her father directly, beginning by saying she felt a “deep ache in my chest to talk to you and tell you everything I’m doing and what’s going on in my life.”
“I wish I asked you more questions while you could still tell me about it all. But I know you wouldn’t want me to be sad today so I’ll try to just be grateful reminding myself how lucky I am that you’re my dad and that you’re still with me and I can still hold you and hug you and kiss your cheek and rub your head I can tell you stories,” she wrote.
She added that Willis’ eyes still “light up” when he sees his granddaughter, Louetta, whom Rumer Willis gave birth to in 2023.
Heming, who has been married to Willis since 2009, began her post by wishing a happy Father’s Day to “all the dads living with disability or disease, showing up in the ways they can and to the children who show up for them.”
“What Bruce teaches our girls goes far beyond words. Resilience, unconditional love, and the quiet strength in simply being present,” Heming wrote.
Heming said her love of Willis has continued to “deepen” and described him as one of many dads who deserves to be celebrated, but acknowledged how his dementia has challenged their lives.
“But to be fair to myself, these symbolic days stir up a lot. I’m profoundly sad today,” she wrote. “I wish, with every cell in my body, that things could be different for him and lighter for our family.”
Willis has two daughters with Heming, in addition to the three daughters (Rumer, Scout and Tallulah) he shares with actress Demi Moore.
Willis’ family had first announced in 2022 that Willis was diagnosed with aphasia, a disorder that can result in trouble speaking or processing language. The condition progressed to frontotemporal dementia, or FTD, in 2023, his family said.
“Unfortunately, challenges with communication are just one symptom of the disease Bruce faces. While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis,” his family wrote at the time.
FTD, a degenerative disease, can result in symptoms including “uncharacteristic personality changes, apathy, and unexplained struggles with decision-making, movement, speaking or language comprehension,” according to the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration.
There is currently no cure or treatment for FTD, but medications can be effective in mitigating behavioral issues associated with symptoms.
