Bruce Willis and his wife, Emma Heming Willis, initially dismissed some of the actor’s earlier dementia symptoms as “just part of a stutter … just Bruce.”
The model and entrepreneur, 46, revealed in the newest issue of Town & Country that the 69-year-old “Die Hard” star’s experience with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) “started with language.”
“I say that FTD whispers. It doesn’t shout. It’s hard for me to say, ‘This is where Bruce ended, and this is where his disease started to take over.’ … He had a severe stutter as a child,” said Heming Willis. “Bruce has always had a stutter, but he has been good at covering it up. As his language started changing, it [seemed like it] was just part of a stutter, it was just Bruce. Never in a million years would I think it would be a form of dementia for someone so young.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, FTD encompasses brain diseases affecting the frontal and temporal lobes, which affect personality, behavior and language.
Willis was initially diagnosed in 2021 with aphasia, which affects a person’s communication, and in 2022, received the FTD diagnosis.
“This disease is misdiagnosed, it’s missed, it’s misunderstood, so finally getting to a diagnosis was key so that I could learn what frontotemporal dementia is and I could educate our children,” said Heming Willis, who shares daughters Mabel, 12, and Evelyn, 10, with the “Sixth Sense” actor. “I’ve never tried to sugarcoat anything for them. They’ve grown up with Bruce declining over the years. I’m not trying to shield them from it.”
Willis’ family, including ex-wife Demi Moore and their three adult daughters, announced in early 2022 that he was suffering from aphasia and “stepping away” from acting as a result.