Bruce Willis is a proud dad of five daughters and his youngest children, Mabel, 13 and Evelyn, 11, shared with wife Emma Heming have navigated their childhood watching their father's health decline through his frontotemporal dementia which was diagnosed in 2023. Their mother Emma recently spoke of how her daughters 'grieve' their father who they 'miss' 'so much'.
"I think they’re doing well, all things considered. But it’s hard. They grieve," Emma told Vogue. "They miss their dad so much. He’s missing important milestones. That’s tough for them. But kids are resilient. [Although] I used to hate hearing that because people didn’t understand what we were walking through. I don’t know if my kids will ever bounce back. But they’re learning, and so am I."
When Emma found out about her husband's diagnosis she was quick to tell Mabel and Evelyn of their father's health issues. "Pretty quickly, I told them. I have always been very open with the girls. I never wanted them to think that [Bruce] wasn’t paying attention to them," she said on Emma & Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey with Diane Sawyer. "What I learned is that when you give them the information, you wait to hear what the questions might be, and they really didn’t have questions about it. I think there was a sense of relief for all of us that, like, 'Okay, now we get it and now we understand,'" she added.
Appearing on Katie Couric's Next Question, Emma shared more insight into Bruce's condition and explained that, as well as FTD, Bruce has primary progressive aphasia, known as PPA. "FTD can affect people in three different ways: language, movement, or behavior. These are like the subtypes of FTD. Bruce has primary progressive aphasia, which is known as PPA, [so] FTD [and] PPA," she said.
Discussing her shock over his first symptom, Emma explained that it was Bruce's speech that first indicated something was wrong. "So, for him, I start noticing, just, his stutter. He had a severe stutter as a child, and it started to come back," she said. "You know, never in my wildest dreams did I think this was a symptom of young-onset dementia."
She continued: "A doctor at UCFF, his name is Bruce Millier, he's an incredible neurologist, he said that some of the things to look out for, if you're in your 40s, 50s, 60s, when you should be very grounded in your life, you're holding a job, you're raising your family. If you start seeing someone change their personality, or start changing so drastically, that is a change in the brain, and that needs to be addressed."
Sharing Bruce's experience, Emma said: "For Bruce and his experience, his stutter came back, words weren't coming as naturally to him, which is just so wild because he is all about words. It was very confusing. I felt like we were so aligned, and there was something just off. It's so gray and ambiguous to say, 'Well, what was the thing?' It just wasn't the person I married.
"Bruce was very different, and I just couldn't put my finger on it. There just comes a point where you have to take the bull by the horns and be like, 'Enough is enough." You know in your gut, you know your person better than anyone, and you have to know that it is ok to advocate. You need to raise your hand, you need to get to the doctor, and you need to have your doctor listen."