Emma Heming Willis says her children are “thriving” amid husband Bruce Willis’ battle with frontotemporal dementia.
Opening up on the Conversations With Cam podcast on January 28, the mum-of-two admitted that while moving the actor into a care facility was “one of the hardest decisions”, it has ultimately been the best for their family.
“It did not come easy,” Emma, 47, said of relocating Bruce from their family home in August 2025.
“Caregivers are faced with really hard decisions and we have to do what is the best for our family, what’s the safest for our person.”
Here’s everything we know about Bruce Willis’ health battle.
WHY WAS BRUCE WILLIS MOVED INTO A CARE HOME?
With two young daughters – Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11 – to think of, Emma shared that they were at the forefront of her decision.
And she knows Bruce, 70, would fully support her, though she admits he’s unaware he’s suffering from the disease.
“Bruce wouldn’t want his two young daughters to be clouded by his disease. I know that,” she said.
“They weren’t having sleepovers, play dates. We weren’t inviting people over … it was a really hard time.
“The decision didn’t come lightly, but it was the right one for our family.”
Emma added that Bruce “never connected the dots” when it came to his illness – something she calls a “blessing and a curse”.
“Bruce never tapped it and never connected the dots that he had this disease and I am really happy about that,” she said. “I am really happy that he doesn’t know.”
She went on to explain that she went public with Bruce’s move into a “second home” in order to help other caregivers in the same situation feel seen and not judged.
“I just wanted someone else to feel seen and validated in that,” she said.
“I knew that it was going to be met with either support and love and, as well as criticism and judgement, but what I know is that dementia plays out differently for everybody.
“And if you aren’t on the front lines of it, day in, day out, 24/7, you don’t get a say and you don’t get a vote.”
She continued: “That’s our reality, and I know this works for us.”
Thankfully, the move worked out for the best for the Willis family, with both Bruce and their daughters thriving after adjusting to their new normal.
“Our children are thriving, and so is Bruce, and that is the most important,” Emma said.
“We are over there all the time. It is our second home, and it’s a place where we make memories and that house supports Bruce’s every need, 24/7.
“And our other home, where our kids are, now they’re supported, now their needs are met and that’s worked so well for us.”
Three years after Bruce’s shock diagnosis was revealed, Emma says the star is “still very much present in his body”.
She added that the family have “progressed along with him” as his dementia has progressed. “We’ve adapted along with him,” she explained.
“When someone says to me, ‘Does Bruce still know who you are?’, yes, he does, because he doesn’t have Alzheimer’s, he has FTD.
“He has a way of connecting with me and our children that might not be the same… but it’s still very beautiful.”
RUMER WILLIS GIVES HEARTBREAKING UPDATE ON DAD BRUCE’S HEALTH
Rumer Willis has given a heartbreaking update on her dad Bruce Willis’ health condition, after new photos of emerged of the Die Hard star last week.
“People always ask me this question and I think it’s kind of a hard one to answer, because the truth is that anybody with FDT is not doing great,” Rumer, 37, replied during an Instagram live, in which she became tearful when a fan asked how her dad Bruce is doing, “but he’s doing OK in terms of somebody who is dealing with frontotemporal dementia.”
“I’m so happy and grateful that I still get to go and hug him,” she continued. “I’m so grateful that when I go over there and give him a hug whether he recognizes me or not that he can feel the love I’ve given him, and I can feel it back from him. That I still see a spark of him and he can feel the love that I’m giving and so that feels really nice.”
Three years ago, Bruce was diagnosed with aphasia and later frontotemporal dementia.
His wife Emma Heming then made the difficult decision to move the 70-year-old into a separate home, which can better cater to his needs.
“Bruce would want that for our daughters,” she said on the Emma and Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey – A Diane Sawyer Special earlier this year.
“He would want them to be in a home that was more tailored to their needs, not his needs.”
WHAT WAS BRUCE WILLIS DIAGNOSED WITH?
In March 2022, it was announced that Bruce would be stepping away from his acting career after he was diagnosed with aphasia. It was later announced that he had also been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, also known as FTD.
“To Bruce’s amazing supporters, as a family we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities. As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him,” Emma announced on Instagram at the time.
The post continued, “This is a really challenging time for our family and we are so appreciative of your continued love, compassion and support. We are moving through this as a strong family unit, and wanted to bring his fans in because we know how much he means to you, as you do to him. As Bruce always says, ‘Live it up’ and together we plan to do just that. Love, Emma, Demi, Rumer, Scout, Tallulah, Mabel, & Evelyn.”
According to the National Institute on Ageing, FTD is “the result of damage to neurons in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain,” which can cause symptoms such as “unusual behaviours, emotional problems, trouble communicating, difficulty with work, or difficulty with walking”.
Speaking to Diane Sawyer in the TV special, Emma said the first sign that something was wrong with Bruce was a change in his personality.
“For someone who is very talkative and very engaged, he was just a little more quiet,” she said. “When the family would get together, he would kind of just melt a little bit.”
“It felt a little removed, very cold, not like Bruce, who was very warm and affectionate,” she continued. “To [go] the complete opposite of that was alarming and scary.”
Speaking at the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement Forum in Las Vegas in May, Emma said they felt very isolated after the Die Hard star received his diagnosis.
“On the day Bruce got his diagnosis, we left the doctor’s office with a pamphlet and a hollow goodbye. No plan, no guidance, no hope, just shock,” she said. “The future we imagined simply vanished, and I was left trying to hold my family together, raise our two young daughters, and care for the man I love while navigating a disease I barely understood.
“I felt lost, isolated and scared,” she continued. “What I needed in that moment at that appointment wasn’t just medical information. I needed someone to look me in the eye and say, ‘This feels impossible right now, but you will find your footing. You will survive this and you will grow because of it.’”
INSIDE BRUCE WILLIS’ FAMILY LIFE
Bruce and Emma first crossed paths at the gym in 2007.
“When we first met, I was surprised at how charming and how funny he was –— and extremely handsome,” Emma told PEOPLE of their first meeting, to which Bruce added, “I was already in love with her.”
In 2009, they tied the knot in Turks and Caicos, followed by a second ceremony in Beverly Hills six days later.
Four years later, in April 2012, the couple welcomed a baby girl who they named Mabel Ray Willis. Two years later, Mabel’s little sister Evelyn Penn Willis was born.
Earlier this year, the couple celebrated their 16th wedding anniversary.
“Today marks 16 years with the love of a lifetime. We’ve shared monumental highs and devastating lows, and through it all, we’ve built something timeless. I’m so deeply grateful for every chapter I’ve had with him and all the ones we’ll continue to write, in our language of unconditional love,” Emma wrote on Instagram at the time.
WHAT DOES BRUCE WILLIS’ LIFE LOOK LIKE NOW?
In August 2025, Emma revealed she’d made the decision to move Bruce into a seperate home not far from where she lives with Mabel and Evelyn.
The Sixth Sense star has a full time care team and Emma takes the girls to visit their father as often as she can.
“Bruce is still very mobile. Bruce is in really great health overall, it’s just his brain that is failing him,” she said.
The 48-year-old said the family have had to find different ways to communicate with their once very talkative father.
“The language is going, and, you know, we’ve learned to adapt. And we have a way of communicating with him, which is just a … different way,” she said.
“We get moments. 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.
“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.”
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Share this post