Bruce Willis’ wife, Emma Heming Willis, shared how the movie star’s dementia battle has affected him.
“Bruce is still very mobile. Bruce is in really great health, overall, it’s just his brain that is failing him,” the model explained in a new interview with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer, which airs in full Tuesday night.
Emma, 47, noted that her husband’s language is “going,” but she and his loved ones have “learned to adapt.” “We have a way of communicating with him, which is just a different way,” she added.
In 2022, Bruce, now 70, was diagnosed with aphasia, a language disorder that affects a person’s ability to speak and understand, but then doctors later determined that he had frontotemporal dementia.
According to the Mayo Clinic, the latter is a progressive neurological disorder that causes language problems, behavioral changes and mobility issues. It often begins within the ages of 40 to 65.
Emma told ABC News about some of the warning signs Bruce’s family saw before he was diagnosed.
She shared that the “Sixth Sense” star, who was normally very “engaged,” became “a little more quiet” and he “felt a little removed, very cold, not like Bruce, who is very warm and affectionate.”
Following his diagnosis, however, Emma said there are still “moments” in which he acts like his old self.
“It’s his laugh, right?” she said. “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.”
The actress, who shares daughters Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11, with the “Die Hard” star, recognized it’s “hard to see” glimpses of how her husband of 16 years used to be.
“Because as quickly as those moments appear, then it goes, and it’s hard,” she further explained to Sawyer, 79, holding back tears.
Emma — who wrote a new book about her caregiving experience with Bruce called “The Unexpected Journey” — said she feels “grateful” despite the disease because her husband “is still very much here.”
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