Bruce Willis’ wife, Emma Heming Willis, has explained how frontotemporal dementia (FTD) changed her husband’s personality. In a sitdown with Diane Sawyer, titled Emma & Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey, which aired in full on Tuesday, August 26, Emma revealed how life has changed after the diagnosis.
Emma told Sawyer that the early signs of Bruce’s condition led to changes in his personality. "For someone who is very talkative and very engaged he was a little more quiet,” Emma explained, per ABC News. “And when the family would get together, he’d just melt a little bit.”
Emma said that Bruce became “indifferent” and began “pulling away” from her. “He felt a little removed, a little cold, not like Bruce, who is very warm and affectionate. To go the complete opposite of that was alarming and scary,” she said. “I didn’t understand what was happening, and I thought just, like, ‘How can I remain in a marriage that doesn’t feel like what we had?’”
Emma also revealed that Bruce’s childhood stutter was back. At work, he started "missing lines and cues and sometimes seeming confused, and no one knew why,” she revealed.
{{/usCountry}}Emma also revealed that Bruce’s childhood stutter was back. At work, he started "missing lines and cues and sometimes seeming confused, and no one knew why,” she revealed.
{{/usCountry}}Emma said that after the diagnosis, she was told that there was no cure and “no hope.” “To leave there with no … nothing, just nothing. With a diagnosis I couldn’t pronounce. I didn’t understand what it was,” she said. “I was so panicked. I just remember hearing it and just not hearing anything else. It was like I was free-falling.”
Talking about Bruce’s reaction to the diagnosis, Emma said, “I don’t think Bruce ever connected the dots.”
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Emma then told their daughters about the diagnosis. “I’ve always been very open with the girls. I never wanted them to think he wasn’t paying attention to them,” she said. “It was relief, like, ‘OK, now we get it, now we understand truly what’s happening."
Emma was told that noise can lead to agitation, and she stopped hosting playdates and sleepovers at their home. “I didn’t know if parents would feel comfortable leaving their kid at our home,” she said. “I isolated our whole family, and that was by design... That was a hard time.”
Emma revealed that "one of the hardest decisions” she had to make was to move Bruce to a second, one-story home where he could receive around-the-clock care. However, she spends breakfast and dinner with him each day.
Emma Heming Willis shares Bruce Willis’ health update
Emma also shared a health update with Sawyer, saying, "Bruce is in really great health overall, you know. It's just his brain that is failing him. The language is going, and, you know, we've learned to adapt," she said. "And we have a way of communicating with him, which is just a different, a different way."
Emma said she believes Bruce recognizes her. "I know he does. You know, when we are with him... he lights up," she said.
Despite the challenges, Emma said, she is still “grateful.” "I'm grateful that my husband is still very much here," she said.