Bruce Willis’ wife Emma says family in ‘constant state of grief’ amid dementia

Emma Heming Willis is opening up about the ongoing grief her family experiences as her husband, Bruce Willis, lives with frontotemporal dementia.

In an interview with HELLO! magazine⁠, Heming Willis described the emotional toll of watching the “Die Hard” actor gradually lose parts of himself to the progressive disease.

“It is extremely difficult and painful,” Heming Willis said. “It's natural, we all want our loved ones to be healthy, full of life and being the person they always were. But FTD is a devastating illness that steals things from you very slowly. So the reality is that you find yourself constantly in a state of grief.”

Willis, 71, stepped away from acting in March 2022 after his family announced that he had been diagnosed with aphasia, a condition that affects communication. Nearly a year later, the family revealed that his condition had progressed and that doctors had reached a more specific diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, also known as FTD.

Heming Willis also pushed back against assumptions about her husband’s illness, including the belief that he no longer recognizes her. She said Willis does recognize her and emphasized that he has FTD, not Alzheimer’s disease.

While Alzheimer's disease typically affects memory…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/entertainment/