Bruce Willis’ Wife Emma Shares Update on His Health & Reveals Heartbreaking Detail

Bruce Willis‘ wife, actress and model Emma Heming Willis, has opened up about her husband’s dementia diagnosis and why the early signs were difficult to detect.

Speaking to veteran journalist Katie Couric for an interview with Town & Country on Tuesday, October 29, Emma revealed that Bruce’s initial signs of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) were mistaken for the return of his childhood stutter.

“Bruce has always had a stutter, but he has been good at covering it up,” Emma said, noting that it was because of his stutter that he was determined to pursue an acting career.

“He went to college, and there was a theater teacher who said, ‘I’ve got something that’s going to help you.’ From that class, Bruce realized that he could memorize a script and be able to say it without stuttering. That’s what propelled him into acting,” she continued.

Due to this medical history, Emma said she initially ignored the early warning signs. “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.”

 

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Bruce’s family revealed his FTD diagnosis in February 2023. According to the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, FTD is the most common form of dementia and can affect behavior, personality, language, and movement.

“Today there are no treatments for the disease, a reality that we hope can change in the years ahead. As Bruce’s condition advances, we hope that any media attention can be focused on shining a light on this disease that needs far more awareness and research,” read a joint statement signed by Emma and the Pulp Fiction star’s ex-wife Demi Moore.

“For Bruce, it started in his temporal lobes and then has spread to the frontal part of his brain. It attacks and destroys a person’s ability to walk, think, make decisions,” Emma told Couric.

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Bruce Willis' Wife Emma Heming Opens Up About Their Life Amid Dementia Battle

She added, “I say that FTD whispers, it doesn’t shout. It’s hard for me to say, ‘This is where Bruce ended, and this is where his disease started to take over.’ He was diagnosed two years ago, but a year prior, we had a loose diagnosis of aphasia, which is a symptom of a disease but is not the disease.”

Since Bruce’s diagnosis, Emma has been a strong advocate for FTD families by sharing information on the disease and connecting with others going through the same situation.

“Today I’m much better than I was when we first received the FTD diagnosis,” she stated. “I’m not saying it’s any easier, but I’ve had to get used to what’s happening so that I can be grounded in what is, so that I can support our children. I’m trying to find that balance between the grief and the sadness that I feel, which can just crack open at any given moment, and finding joy.”