Father's Day isn't the easiest day for Bruce Willis' family.
This Sunday, June 15, the Die Hard actor is marking his third Father's Day since his family disclosed his aphasia diagnosis, which was eventually updated to frontotemporal dementia, and his wife Emma Heming got candid about the sadness of it all.
The couple has been married since 2009, and share daughters Mabel Rae, 13, and Evelyn Penn, ten, plus he shares daughters Rumer, 36, Scout, 33, and Tallulah, 31, with ex-wife Demi Moore, to whom he was married from 1987 to 2000.
© InstagramFor Father's Day, Emma took to Instagram and shared a rare photo of Bruce with his youngest daughter Evelyn, before reflecting on the "profoundly sad" day.
"Happy Father's Day to all the dads living with disability or disease, showing up in the ways they can and to the children who show up for them," she first wrote, adding: "What Bruce teaches our girls goes far beyond words."
"Resilience, unconditional love, and the quiet strength in simply being present. This photo says so much. Love deepens. It adapts. It stays, even when everything else changes," she continued.
© Getty ImagesStill, she then confessed: "To be fair to myself, these symbolic days stir up a lot," and noted: "I'm profoundly sad today. I wish, with every cell in my body, that things could be different for him and lighter for our family."
Emma further shared: "As they say in our FTD community, 'It is what it is.' And while that might sound dismissive, to me, it's not. It grounds me. It helps me return to the acceptance of what is and not fight this every step of the way like I used to," and concluded with: "Today, let's celebrate the badass dads, those who are here, and those we carry with us."
© InstagramFans were then quick to take to the comments section under the post with supportive messages. "Happy Father's Day Bruce. My heart is with you today Emma," one wrote, as others followed suit with: "This is such a beautiful post. It is what it is, just keep swimming, keep on keeping on, one day at a time. I wish you all joy, love, and peace everyday forever," and: "I love how you put this. Keep on keeping on. Happy Father's Day, Bruce," as well as: "What a beautiful and honest post. Prayers for your family today."
Last year, Emma opened up to Town & Country about how she has been coping the last couple of years, and how she has approached explaining Bruce's condition to their daughters. "I'm trying to find that balance between the grief and the sadness that I feel, which can just crack open at any given moment, and finding joy," she said, and though it was a heartbreaking diagnosis to receive, she noted: "This disease is misdiagnosed, it's missed, it's misunderstood, so finally getting to a diagnosis was key so that I could learn what frontotemporal dementia is and I could educate our children."
© Instagram"They've grown up with Bruce declining over the years. I'm not trying to shield them from it," she added, and explained: "What I learned from our therapist was that if children ask questions, they're ready to know the answer. If we could see that Bruce was struggling, I would address it with the kids so they could understand."
"But this disease is chronic, progressive, and terminal. There is no cure," she further shared, noting that "obviously, I don't like to speak about the terminal side of this with them, nor have they asked," however, "they know that Daddy's not going to get better."
