Bruce Willis' wife reveals biggest misconception about his frontotemporal dementia
Emma Heming Willis says Bruce Willis' frontotemporal dementia (FTD) doesn't affect his memory.
Bruce Willis' wife Emma Heming Willis opens up on his FTD diagnosis
The Die Hard actor's family revealed his FTD diagnosis three years ago, and now his wife of 37 years has explained there is a big misconception about the disease, which has "three different variants".
She told the Bossticks podcast: "The one that Bruce has affects language.
“But there’s another variant that will affect behaviour and another one that could affect movement.”
The 71-year-old star has daughters Mabel, 14, and Evelyn, 12, with his 47-year-old wife, as well as Rumer, 37, Scout, 34, and Tallulah, 32, with ex-wife Demi Moore.
Emma added: "That’s a different part of the brain. So when people say, ‘Oh, does he remember who you are?’
"Well, he does because he doesn’t have Alzheimer’s, he has FTD.
"I think that’s a very common misconception that, when you think of dementia, we think of memory loss."
Although Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, Emma noted that "FTD is the most common form of dementia for people under the age of 60".
The model also opened up on how being Bruce's caregiver feels like an "ambiguous loss" as she has to grieve "someone who is alive", as they're "there physically but maybe not mentally or emotionally".
She added that all forms of dementia “take and they take and they take, sometimes very slowly".
Emma said: “You are consistently in grief. I've just learned how to navigate it.
“Maybe I'm a little bit more used to it at this point than I was early on. But yeah, you are just sitting with it and moving alongside of it.”
Last month, Bruce's daughter Rumer opened up about her father's illness, and revealed she is "so grateful" her own daughter Louetta, three, has been able to meet her grandfather.
She also revealed how the action movie hero's demeanour has changed since he was diagnosed with FTD.
She told The Inside Edit podcast: “I’m so grateful that I get to go see him even though our time together is different now.
“There’s a sweetness. He’s always been this, kind of, macho dude and now there’s just such a – fragile’s not the right word – but just, like, a tenderness that maybe being, you know, Bruce Willis might not have allowed him in a certain way.”
Bruce, whose career spans blockbusters including Armageddon, The Sixth Sense and Moonlighting, has remained largely out of the public eye since his diagnosis.
His health battle has prompted growing awareness around frontotemporal dementia in recent years, with Emma increasingly using her platform to discuss caregiving and dementia support.
