Bruce Willis’ wife, Emma Heming Willis, says she still finds herself “transported” by the “twinkle in his eye” as he continues his fight with frontotemporal dementia (FTD).
Speaking with Diane Sawyer on the ABC special Emma & Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey, Heming Willis explained that even though her husband struggles with communication, flashes of the man she married in 2009 still shine through.
“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,” she said, according to PEOPLE. “And it’s just hard to see, because as quickly as those moments appear, then it goes.”
She added that those moments are especially visible when Bruce is surrounded by his daughters—Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah from his marriage to Demi Moore, and Mabel and Evelyn, his children with Heming Willis.
“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. I don’t need him to know that I am his wife, and we were married on this day… I just wanna feel that I have a connection with him. And I do.”
The family first revealed Willis’ health struggles in spring 2022 when he was diagnosed with aphasia, before later confirming his condition had progressed to FTD.
In a statement through the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, the Willis family said, “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+.
