Bruce Willis’ wife, Emma Heming Willis, was overwhelmed when she began to search about her husband’s dementia condition.
“I didn’t know where to go, what to look up, I’m looking things up and it’s freaking me out,” Heming said on Sunday’s episode of her “Make Time To Connect” YouTube series.
“There wasn’t a lot [of information about FTD] but you guys popped up,” she continued. “I started listening and I felt like, ‘Oh my gosh I’m so grateful to hear other people’s stories.'”
Heming Willis, 45, had the honest conversation via Zoom with the podcast founders Maria Kent Beers and Rachael Martinez.
“There’s nothing that levels the playing field like FTD. And I have made some of the greatest connections with other care partners, people like you who just get it. There doesn’t have to be so much explanation,” she went on.
She added: “You guys have been so helpful to me. I want to say thank you. I’m surprised I’m not crying because that’s where I go to when I think of people who have been that lifeline for me.”
Hemis Willis and her family revealed in March 2022 that the “Die Hard” actor was diagnosed with aphasia, a condition that affects a person’s language processing and communication abilities.
As they learned more about his condition, Willis’ loved ones confirmed in February that his condition worsened to Frontotemporal dementia, which can cause slowed movement, stiffness and balance problems.
Heming Willis and the actor, 68, are parents to daughters Mabel, 11, and Evelyn, 8. The actor is also dad to daughters Rumer, 34, Scout, 31, and Tallulah, 29 whom he shares with ex-wife Demi Moore.
“Dementia is hard. It’s hard on the person diagnosed, it’s also hard on the family. And that is no different for Bruce, or myself, or our girls. When they say this is a family disease, it really is,” Heming Willis said during a Today appearance last month.
When asked if she thinks Willis understands what is happening, she held back tears and replied: “It’s hard to know.”
