Emma Heming Willis recently revealed that her husband, beloved actor Bruce Willis, “doesn’t know” he has frontotemporal dementia.
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Heming Willis, married to the Die Hard legend since 2009, recently appeared on the Conversations With Cam Podcast to share an update on her husband’s health.
“I think they think this is their normal,” the 47-year-old told host Cameron Oaks Rogers on the Jan. 28 episode. “There is this term, this neurological condition, that comes with FTD and other types of dementia as well, called anosognosia, where your brain can’t identify what is happening to it. Where people think this might be denial, where they don’t want to go to the doctor because they’re like, ‘I’m fine.’ Actually, this is the anosognosia that comes into play. It’s not denial. It’s just that their brain is changing. This is a part of the disease.”
“That’s the blessing and the curse of this is that Bruce never tapped in,” Heming Willis continued. “He never connected the dots that he had this disease. I’m really happy about that. I’m really happy he doesn’t know about it.”
Emma Heming Willis Says Bruce Willis is ‘Very Much Present’
She also confirmed that the 70-year-old actor still recognizes his family. The couple has two daughters, aged 11 and 13.
“He is still very much present in his body,” she insisted. “When someone says to me, ‘Does Bruce still know who you are?’ Yes, he does, because he doesn’t have Alzheimer’s; he has FTD. He has a way with 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 and meaningful. It’s just different. You just learn how to adapt.
The family of The Sixth Sense actor revealed in 2023 that he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). This term refers to a group of brain disorders that cause the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain to shrink, leading to speech difficulties, emotional challenges, and personality changes.