Emma Heming Willis has spoken openly about life since her husband Bruce Willis was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in 2023. She revealed that the first signs were his personality changes, sharing, “For someone who was very talkative and very engaged, he was just a little more quiet… not like Bruce, who is very warm and affectionate.”

The former model said the shift was “alarming and scary,” adding, “It just wasn’t Bruce. It just wasn’t the man that I married. It was like waking up with someone else.”

Heming explained that the couple has since developed “our own language, our own way to be with each other. It’s just about sitting with him, walking with him, listening to him as he tries to verbalise in his own language.” She noted the importance of “hearing him [and] validating him,” even as his ability to process words has declined.

Recently, Willis moved into a one-storey home to receive constant care, a choice Heming called “one of the hardest” she has ever made.

Despite the change, she said they still share meals daily: “It is… a house that is filled with love and warmth and care and laughter… Bruce’s friends continue to show up for him.”