Bruce Willis‘ wife, Emma Heming, shared a bittersweet message on their 14th wedding anniversary, as Bruce continues to battle frontotemporal dementia. “Today marks 14 years of marriage to the greatest love of my life,” Emma, 44, wrote on Instagram March 21, alongside a photo of a bouquet of flowers. “I woke with my heart full but what my mind kept going back to was another persons act of kindness yesterday I wanted to share as it inspired the heck out of me.”
Emma, who has been caring for Bruce, 68, amidst his health struggles, explained that a friend sent her the bouquet of flowers on her anniversary, which meant so much to her. “It got me thinking about how hard these types of special occasions’ can be on caregivers,” Emma said. “When usually our person would acknowledge the event, now their changing brains just can’t. And that is what it is.”
Emma went on to say that the “random act of kindness” from her friend “will honestly stay with me for a long time.” She thanked her pal, Juliya, and said that her gesture “singlehandedly made this day special for us.” Emma insinuated in her post that Bruce didn’t remember their anniversary because of his dementia, which is why her friend’s gesture was so meaningful to her.
Bruce and Emma also just celebrated the Die Hard actor’s 68th birthday on March 19. The couple rang in Bruce’s big day with their whole family, including their daughters Evelyn, 8, and Mabel, 10, and Bruce’s daughters Rumer Willis, 34, Scout Willis, 31, and Tallulah Willis, 29, with his ex-wife Demi Moore, 60, who was also at the celebration. Demi shared a video of the whole family singing “Happy Birthday” to Bruce, who had the biggest smile on his face while surrounded by his loved ones.
March 19 will mark the one-year anniversary that Bruce’s family announced his diagnosis with aphasia. At the time, they confirmed that he would be retiring from acting due to his health struggles. In Feb. 2023, they confirmed that his condition had worsened to a form of dementia. Bruce is battling frontotemporal dementia, an “umbrella term for a group of brain disorders that primarily affect the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain,” according to the Mayo Clinic. Bruce’s family called FTD a “cruel disease” and confirmed that there’s no treatments for the disease in their Feb. 2023 statement.