Emma Heming Willis spoke about her husband Bruce Willis’ battle with frontotemporal dementia.
In a conversation with Diane Sawyer during ABC’s Emma & Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey, on Tuesday, August 26, 2025, the 47-year-old got candid about Bruce’s dementia diagnosis.
Emma said, “Bruce is still very mobile. Bruce is in really great health overall, you know,”
She continued, “It’s just his brain that is failing him. The language is going. We’ve learned to adapt and we have a way of communicating with him, which is just a different way.”
Emma further recalled noticing early changes when Bruce stopped engaging and seemed more distant, showed less affection, which was entirely opposite to his warm personality.
Initially, she thought that his hearing loss from the Die Hard filming might be to blame.
Bruce was diagnosed with aphasia in 2022, and was later confirmed as dementia. Emma described the moment doctors told her there was no cure as “free-falling.” She admitted the illness strained their marriage but said she remains grateful for fleeting moments when Bruce’s laugh or smirk returns.
The 70-year-old actor was diagnosed with aphasia in 2022, later confirmed as dementia after a year. Emma remembered the moment doctors revealed about his diagnosis, “ I was so panicked and I just remembered hearing it and not hearing anything else.”
“It was like I was freefalling,” she added.
Emma further revealed that the The Sixth Sense alum no longer recognizes the details of their relationship but still lights up around her and their daughters, Mabel and Evelyn.
The hardest decision for the family was to move Bruce to a nearby one-story home with caregivers, ensuring their daughters could grow up in a space designed for them.
