Bruce Willis’ wife, Emma Heming Willis, shared that there are still moments she is “transported” by the “twinkle in his eye” as the actor battles a diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD).
Heming Willis told Diane Sawyer in the ABC special, Emma & Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey, that although her husband struggles with communication, she still sees a glimmer of the personality of the man she married in 2009.
"It's his laugh, right? He has such a hearty laugh. And sometimes you'll see that twinkle in his eye, or that smirk. I just get transported,” Heming Willis shared, as reported by PEOPLE Magazine. "And it's just hard to see, because as quickly as those moments appear, then it goes."
This glimmer of Willis’ personality comes through, said his wife, when he is surrounded by his five daughters. He is a father to Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah with ex-Demi Moore, and he and Heming Willis share daughters Mabel and Evelyn.
"He's holding our hands. We're kissing him. We're hugging him," she shared. "He is reciprocating. You know, he is into it."
"And so that's all I need, you know?" she concluded. "I don't need him to know that I am his wife, and we were married on this day, and this is what it — I don't need any of that. I just wanna feel that I have a connection with him. And I do."
His family shared Willis’ health news and diagnosis after an initial diagnosis of aphasia in the Spring of 2022. The family subsequently stated that his condition had progressed, making the FTD diagnosis clearer in understanding the actor’s symptoms.
In a statement published on the Association for Fronto Temporal Degeneration website, the Willis family wrote, “Bruce always believed in using his voice in the world to help others, and to raise awareness about important issues both publicly and privately. We know in our hearts that – if he could today -- he would want to respond by bringing global attention and a connectedness with those who are also dealing with this debilitating disease and how it impacts so many individuals and their families.”
Emma & Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey is now streaming on Hulu and Disney+.