Bruce Willis's wife slams media for 'stupid headlines' on dementia
What's the story
Emma Heming Willis, the wife of Hollywood star Bruce Willis, recently took to Instagram to criticize the media's portrayal of her husband's battle with untreatable frontotemporal dementia (FTD). She slammed a headline that claimed there was "no more joy" in Bruce's life, saying, "Now, I can just tell you, that is far from the truth." Heming Willis urged the media to be more responsible when reporting on dementia and to avoid scaring people with such headlines.
Condition
Aphasia, FTD: About Bruce's condition
In March 2022, the Willis family revealed that the Die Hard star was grappling with aphasia and needed to step away from Hollywood. Aphasia is a condition where a person has difficulty with speaking, understanding, reading, or writing. Just under a year later, in February 2023, they provided an update stating that the 68-year-old actor's condition had advanced, and an official diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia had been confirmed.
Instagram post
'It's filled with love, it's filled with connection': Heming Willis
While admitting that their journey has had its share of "grief and sadness," Heming Willis emphasized that it is not all "doom and gloom." She shared, "You start a new chapter and that chapter is filled—let me just tell you what it is." "It's filled with love, it's filled with connection, it's filled with joy, it's filled with happiness." Notably, Heming Willis—who tied the knot with Bruce in 2009—has been using social media to document her husband's journey regularly.
Education
She called for better education, urged media to be responsible
Heming Willis added that she believes misleading stories about Bruce's condition stem from a lack of education. "We are being educated by the wrong people. People who have an opinion versus an experience. People that have not taken the time to properly educate themselves on any kind of neurocognitive disease." She urged the media to be more responsible by saying, "I need society and whoever is writing these stupid headlines to stop scaring people."
Book on their journey
Book about their journey slated for 2025 release
Besides advocating for better dementia awareness, Heming Willis is also working on a book for Penguin Random House's The Open Field imprint, set to release in 2025. The book is yet untitled. Heming Willis will reportedly combine personal stories with interviews and advice from experts. "Identifying the right resources to educate and enlighten myself has been powerful and has allowed me the space to continue to move forward most positively," she previously said in a statement.