Emma Heming Willis is sharing a candid update on her husband Bruce Willis’ battle with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). In a special sit-down interview with Diane Sawyer, which aired Tuesday night on ABC, Heming, 47, fought back tears as she reflected on her husband’s condition.
Emma also opened up about the toll her husband’s dementia diagnosis has taken on her own health.
Emma On Battling Depression
Courtesy of: ABC News StudiosThe 47-year-old author revealed she sought treatment for depression after feeling “so alone” and “so isolated” in the wake of the news.
“I was losing it,” Emma admitted, explaining how the weight of caring for Bruce left her overwhelmed. To cope, she turned to medical experts for help with her own mental health while also bringing in round-the-clock caregivers to support Bruce.
How Emma Is Helping Others Navigate Loved Ones With Similar Health Struggles
Now, Emma says her focus has shifted to raising awareness and building community for families facing similar battles.
“That is this whole motivation for me to raise awareness about this disease, because we want families, we want people to be able to be diagnosed earlier, when they can participate in these trials,” she explained, emphasizing her hope that others confronting the “rare disease Bruce Willis has” will feel less alone.
She has even created a list of practical tips for friends and family members on how to support caregivers in meaningful, everyday ways. Still, she acknowledged the difficulty of accessing care. “We are very fortunate enough that we can afford care, and many families are not able to. Formal caregiving is astronomical, yet they deserve every penny,” Emma said.
How Emma is Cherishing Fleeting Moments of Joy With Bruce
“Bruce is still very mobile. Bruce is in really great health overall, you know. It’s just his brain that is failing him,” Heming said in the special, Emma & Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey. She explained that while Willis, 70, remains physically strong, his ability to communicate continues to diminish.
Heming, who married Willis in 2009 and shares daughters Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11, with him, added that the family has found new ways to connect. “Bruce’s language is going, and we’ve learned to adapt, and we have a way of communicating with him which is just a different way.”
When Sawyer asked if there were still days when it felt like Bruce again, Heming grew emotional. “We still get those days. Not days, but we get moments,” she said.
“It’s his laugh, right? Like, he has such, like, a hearty laugh, and, you know, sometimes you’ll see that twinkle in his eye, or that smirk, and, you know, I just get, like, transported,” she shared. “And it’s just hard to see, because as quickly as those moments appear, then it goes. It’s hard. But I’m grateful. I’m grateful that my husband is still very much here.”
How Emma Remembers The Diagnosis Moment
Heming also opened up about the devastating day doctors delivered the official diagnosis.
“To leave there with nothing, just nothing, with a diagnosis I couldn’t pronounce, I couldn’t understand what it was,” she recalled. “I was so panicked. I remember hearing it and not hearing anything else. I was free falling.”
She revealed that she does not believe Willis will ever truly “connect the dots” about his condition, noting, “He doesn’t really comprehend it.”
Looking Back at Early Symptoms & Family Support
Heming said that subtle signs of decline began to appear years earlier. “For someone who was very talkative and very engaged, he was just a little more quiet. When the family would get together, he would just melt a little bit,” she said. “It felt a little removed, very cold, not like Bruce, who was very warm and affectionate. To go the complete opposite of that was alarming and scary.”
The Willis family first revealed in March 2022 that Bruce had been diagnosed with aphasia, prompting his retirement from acting. By 2023, they confirmed his condition had progressed to FTD, a rare, incurable neurodegenerative disease that affects personality, behavior, language, and movement.
Willis has since stayed largely out of the public eye, spending time at home in Los Angeles with Heming, their daughters, and his ex-wife Demi Moore, who has remained a strong source of support.
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