‘No plan, no hope, just shock’: Bruce Willis’ wife opens up about when they first learnt of his rare form of dementia

Emma Heming Willis, Bruce Willis‘ wife, chose to share how traumatic it was when the Willis family initially got the news of his dementia.

Bruce Willis was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in 2022 and subsequently announced his retirement from acting. When the news first came out, the entire entertainment industry expressed their empathy, and the few who had the pleasure of working with him took the opportunity to point out how he’s been such a class act throughout his career.

Emma has been open about how devastating it’s been managing the illness before. But according to the Daily Beast, she’s working on an entire book chronicling how they’ve managed the illness thus far, and it promises to be more revealing than anything that currently exists about the illness. While talking about the book at the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement Forum in Las Vegas, Emma recalled how she felt when leaving the doctor’s office after the initial diagnosis, saying, “On the day Bruce got his diagnosis, we left the doctor’s office with a pamphlet and a hollow goodbye. No plan, no guidance, no hope, just shock.”

FTD is relatively rare compared to Alzheimer’s, but it’s a likely form of dementia for individuals at Bruce’s age. Some of the symptoms include personality shifts like anti-social behavior and movement issues. Emma has stayed by his side through all of it and occasionally shares health updates through her social media — even often celebrating the two’s anniversary.

In her upcoming book The Unexpected Journey, Emma shared that she plans on giving her readers a “roadmap” on how to survive the challenges of a loved one dealing with dementia. The Die Hard star’s wife shared of her book, “I wrote it for other caregivers who are desperate for answers, aching for support, and wanting to be seen and wondering how they’re going to make it through.”

Luckily for Bruce, his entire family is showing support in whichever way they can. It’s not just Emma — with whom he shares two children — but Demi Moore as well. Demi, who is Willis’ ex-wife, never misses an opportunity to show support and celebrate Bruce throughout his challenges — come birthdays, anniversaries, or even last year when she was on the awards circuit competing for Best Actress awards for her performance in The Substance.

Emma shared that she’s most grateful for the support system she’s had from her family and that she’s doing her best to remind their two children of their fun memories. It’s clear that she has now turned her focus into advocacy for the disease and wants to ensure there’s enough awareness of what FTD is and how it can affect someone’s personal health and social life.

We here at We Got This Covered wish the Willis family all the luck they can possibly get from this earth. FTD, as of this moment, has no known cure. But we’re certain all the professionals are hard at work trying to figure out a way to reverse that.

Emma will certainly be at the front lines of that too — pulling all the attention and letting us know exactly how we can help.