Emma Heming Willis talks about Bruce Willis’ battle with dementia
Emma Heming Willis has spoken out about Bruce Willis’ battle with dementia, nearly three years after his diagnosis.
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Emma Heming Willis wrote a powerful essay about the sadness that comes with celebrating the holidays while her husband Bruce Willis battles dementia.
In a post on his website titled “The Holidays Look Different Now,” Hemming Willis, 47, revealed that he was experiencing what he described as a “web of sadness” during the holidays.
“For me, the holidays bring back memories of Bruce being at the center of it all,” she wrote. “He loved this time of year. The energy, the family time, the traditions. He was the one who made pancakes, the one who went out in the snow with the kids. He was the steady presence that moved around the house as the day unfolded. Especially since I’m a creature of habit, there was comfort in the routine of knowing exactly how the day was going to go. Dementia doesn’t erase those memories. But it creates a space between then and now, and sometimes that space hurts.”
Hemming Willis went on to say that he found himself “cursing Bruce’s name while wrestling with Christmas lights and taking on jobs that Bruce used to do.” He said this wasn’t because he was angry with Bruce, but because “I miss the way he used to lead the Holiday Charge.”
But, she added, “You can miss the past and still show up for the present.”
Bruce Willis will retire from acting in 2022 to battle frontotemporal dementia. Frontotemporal dementia, also known as FTD, affects the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain and can cause personality changes and language loss, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Earlier this year, Hemming Willis revealed on an ABC special that the “Die Hard” actor lives in a separate home with a professional caregiver. She said moving Bruce into a new home was “one of the most difficult decisions” she had to make, but added: “First and foremost, we knew that’s what Bruce wanted for our daughters. You know, he would want a home that was more tailored to their needs rather than his own.”
Bruce and Emma Heming Willis have two children, Mabel (13 years old) and Evelyn (11 years old). Bruce also has three adult children from his marriage to Demi Moore. Scout, 34 years old. and Talulah (31).
Hemming Willis frequently writes about her caregiving journey, and in September she published a book titled “An Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself in Caregiving.”
In a new essay, she reflected on how she had long wished “holidays would continue the way they always were,” but has now come to terms with the fact that “life is playing out differently.”
“This holiday season, our family will continue to unwrap presents and sit together at breakfast,” she wrote. “But instead of Bruce making our favorite pancakes, I make them. And no, we can’t share our family’s secret recipe. We show holiday movies. There’s laughter, there’s hugging. And there’s almost certainly tears, because we can make room for sadness, joy. Joy doesn’t cancel out sadness. Sadness doesn’t cancel out joy. They coexist.”
While pruning the tree, she felt “a sense of pain for what dementia has taken from us and a sense of gratitude that we still celebrate together,” and concluded, “I have memories of Bruce as the man who once carried this season for my family, and I embrace his reality now with the same love.”
In a conversation with USA TODAY earlier this year, Hemming Willis said her husband’s care team was in place and “we’re in a stable position now.”
Contributors: Jay Stahl and David Oliver, USA TODAY
