Why Emma Heming Ignored Her Husband Bruce Willis’ Signs of Dementia

This is Bruce Willis’ place the wife Emma Heming shared new details of the first days of Die Hard star dementia diagnosis

Heming opened in interview no City and country On Tuesday, October 29, revealing that the family initially ignored some of the actor’s symptoms due to his history of childhood boredom.

“Bruce has always had tongues, but he could hide it,” Heming, 46, told the media.

Heming added that Willis’ stuttering eventually led him to pursue a career in acting after his drama teacher in college made him realize that he could memorize the script and say the words without stuttering.

Related: Bruce Willis’ Wife Says Dementia Diagnosis Is ‘Blessing’ and ‘Curse’

Emma Heming Willis has shared a new update about her husband Bruce Willis’ battle with frontotemporal dementia. Heming Willis, 45, discussed the disease on the Monday, Sept. 25, episode of Today in honor of Dementia Awareness Week worldwide, revealing that it’s “hard to know” whether Willis, 68, is aware of his dementia. “What I’m learning […]

“As his language began to change, so did he [seemed like it] it was part of the stuttering, it was just Bruce,” explained Heming. “Never in a million years would I have thought it would be that kind of dementia in someone so young.”

He continued: “For Bruce, it started in his temporal lobes and spread to the front part of his brain. It attacks and destroys a person’s ability to walk, think, make decisions. I say FTD whispers, not shouts. It’s hard for me to say, ‘This is where Bruce ended up, and this is where his disease started to take hold.’ He was diagnosed two years ago, but the year before, we were openly diagnosed with aphasia, which is a symptom but not a disease.”

Willis’ family shared in 2022 that The Sixth Sense the actor, 69, was diagnosed with aphasia, a disorder that affects the way a person is able to communicate.

According to the Mayo Clinic, frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is “an umbrella term for a group of brain diseases that primarily affect the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain” — areas “associated with personality, behavior and language.”

Heming shares two children Mabel, 12, and Evelyn, 10 with Willis. The actor is also a father Rumor36, Scout,33, and Tallulah30, and ex-wife Demi Moore.

In the interview, Heming also shared an update on how she is managing her husband’s illness.

“I’m a lot better today than I was when we first got the FTD diagnosis,” Heming said. “I’m not saying it’s easy, but I have to get used to what’s happening in order to settle in what is there, to support our children. I try to find that balance between the sadness and the sadness that I feel, which can open at any moment, and find happiness.”