Actor Bruce Willis’ dementia diagnosis was not just a heartbreaking moment for the family but the entire world. Fans who adore the actor mourned the news that meant the actor would be stepping back from acting.
Now, almost four years after the family first revealed his diagnosis, Emma Heming Willis is giving fans another update. Keep reading to learn more.
In 2022, the Willis family revealed that Bruce Willis had been diagnosed with aphasia, which is a type of condition that impacts how a person communicates with others.
A year after the initial diagnosis, Willis was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD).
FTD is ‘an umbrella term for a group of brain diseases that mainly affect the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain’, according to the Mayo Clinic. The parts of the brain it affects are linked with personality, behavior, and language.
FTD usually impacts people who are younger as opposed to Alzheimer’s disease which is usually diagnosed between the ages of 40 and 65 years old. At the time of his diagnosis, Willis was 67 years old.
The actor’s wife, Emma, has been very open about the family’s experience with the diagnosis. She shares updates about the actor and how he is doing.
She recently appeared on Cameron Oaks Rogers’ The Unexpected Journey podcast where she talked about Bruce Willis. She said her husband was not aware that he had dementia and that he has ‘never connected the dots’ which Emma says is ‘happy’ about.
She said, “I think that’s like the blessing and the curse of this, is that he never connected the dots that he had this disease, and I’m really happy about that.
She added further, “I’m really happy that he doesn’t know about it.”
The host Cameron asked her about lucid moments, she asked, “When you’re with Bruce, do you ever tap into this moment where you feel like it’s still him because he knows who you are?”
Emma answered, “Yeah, he’s still very much present in his body. His disease, for the most part, is a slow progression. So we have progressed along with him. We have adapted along with him.”
She went on to clarify, “When someone says to me ‘Does Bruce still know who you are?’ – yes he does because he doesn’t have Alzheimer’s. He had FTD.”
For those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, an early symptom is usually memory impairment, but the same is not the case with FTD. However, as FTD progresses, memory impairment worsens.
Emma went on to say, “He has a way of connecting with me, our children that might not be the same as you would connect with your loved one, but it’s still very beautiful.
She added, “It’s still very meaningful. It’s just — it’s just different. You just learn how to adapt.”
This is both a heartbreaking and a reassuring update from Emma Heming Willis about her husband Bruce Willis. What do you think about it? Let us know in the comments section on Facebook.
READ MORE
