Bruce Willis' Wife Shares the Emotional Impact of His Diagnosis

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Bruce Willis‘ wife Emma Heming has shared honest and raw stories about her life as a caretaker after his frontotemporal dementia diagnosis in 2022. Now, she’s giving fans an even deeper look into their lives and her emotional reaction the moment their lives changed forever — and it’s heartbreaking.

The 46-year-old model spoke at the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement Forum on May 19 in Las Vegas about her experience.

“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, via People. “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.”

Emma Heming, actor Bruce Willis, Tallulah Willis and actor Demi Moore attend the Flawless Screening at the Tribeca Grand in New York. Fairchild Archive/Penske Media/WWD

She described how she was feeling in that moment, “lost, isolated and scared.”

“What I needed in that moment at that appointment wasn’t just medical information,” Heming added. “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.’ “

Heming isn’t just speaking about what she and Willis went through, she will be diving deeper into their story in her upcoming book, The Unexpected Journey, out in September.

In March 2022, the Willis family shared the Die Hard actor’s initial diagnosis of aphasia, a disorder that affects a person’s ability to communicate, ahead of a Los Angeles Times exposé. Many people in the entertainment industry discussed their concerns about the 70-year-old star going back to 2020 because Willis often appeared disoriented on set.

“It was less of an annoyance and more like: ‘How do we not make Bruce look bad?’” one crew member said. “Someone would give him a line and he didn’t understand what it meant. He was just being puppeted.”

Heming has become an advocate for caregivers while raising the two daughters she shares with her husband, Mabel Ray, 13, and Evelyn Penn, 11. Willis’s ex-wife Demi Moore and their three daughters, Rumer, 36, Scout, 33, and Tallulah, 31, have also pitched in as a big, blended family to assist Heming and Willis along their health journey.

Before you go, click here to see celebrity moms who are close with their stepkids.