Bruce Willis’ Family Shares Dementia Update: It’s ‘Hard to Know’ Whether He’s Aware of His Condition

Emma Heming Willis, wife of Bruce Willis, has shared an update on the actor’s condition months after he was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. “Dementia is hard,” Heming Willis said during an appearance on TODAY. “It’s hard on the person diagnosed, it’s also hard on the family. And that is no different for Bruce, or myself, or our girls. When they say this is a family disease, it really is.”

Willis retired from acting in March 2022 after being diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease aphasia, which impacted his cognitive abilities. Less than a year later, in February 2023, the family unveiled his dementia diagnosis, sharing that his FTD was likely related to his aphasia. Appearing on TODAY for World Frontotemporal Dementia Awareness Week, Heming Willis explained that it’s “hard to know” whether he is aware of his condition.

“We’re a very honest and open household. The most important thing was to be able for us to say what the disease was, and explain what it is, because when you know what the disease is from a medical standpoint, it sort of all makes sense,” Heming Willis explained of navigating the actor’s recent developments with their children. “It was important that we let them know what it is because I don’t want there to be any stigma or shame attached to their dad’s diagnosis or for any form of dementia.”

Heming Willis was joined on TODAY by Susan Dickinson, CEO of the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration. Earlier this year, Dr. Joel Salinas — Assistant Professor of Neurology at NYU Langone Health and Chief Medical Officer at Isaac Health — told Rolling Stone about the various stages of FTD, explaining: “Mild impairment of affects day to day things like managing correspondence and finances, public transport, being able to get up have a job. Once somebody advances into the moderate stage, we see more dependence in the basic activities of daily living: showering, dressing, toileting, and difficulty with eating. Then once somebody’s very dependent on just about everything, that would be severe.”

The extent of Willis’ condition is unclear, but his family is hoping to continue raising awareness of FTD, which is often under-researched and misdiagnosed in patients by medical professionals.

“It doesn’t make it any less painful, but just being in the acceptance and just being in the know of what is happening to Bruce just makes it a little bit easier,” Heming Willis explained. “What we know is obviously the disease can start in the frontal or the temporal lobes, like the name signifies. And one of the things the frontal lobe controls is self-insight, so we really don’t know. Some people, the first thing they lose is any understanding that they themselves have changed. And other people retain that for a long time.”