Bruce Willis’ daughters Tallulah and Scout Willis praised his wife, their stepmother, Emma Heming Willis, for speaking out about his dementia.
“I truly could not be more proud of @emmahemingwillis for being willing to step out into the public eye, (even though it’s terrifying!!!) to share our family’s story in service of spreading awareness about FTD,” Scout, 32, wrote via her Instagram Stories on Monday, September 25. “Emma, you are such a champion for this cause, and you inspire me EVERY SINGLE F—KING DAY with your bravery and deep loving. Your courage is moving mountains #ftd #ftdawareness.”
Scout’s sister Tallulah, 29, also expressed her appreciation for Emma, 45, in her own Instagram Stories post by writing, “So proud of my family @emmahemingwillis.”
That day, Emma appeared on The Today Show to address her husband’s deteriorating condition. Bruce, 68, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in February. The disease is a rare form of dementia in which the brain’s frontal lobe or temporal lobe loses nerve cells, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
While speaking with talk show host Hota Kotb, Emma admitted that it’s “hard to know” whether or not the Unbreakable star is aware of his condition.
“What I’m learning is that dementia is hard,” Emma noted. “It’s hard on the person diagnosed. It’s also hard on the family. And that is no different for Bruce, or myself, or our girls. When they say that this is a family disease, it really is.”
Emma and Bruce share their daughters, 11-year-old Mabel and 9-year-old Evelyn, while he shares Rumer, Scout and Tallulah with ex-wife Demi Moore.
Emma also explained that accepting Bruce’s diagnosis was both a “blessing and [a] curse.” Though the mother of two said it was helpful to “finally understand what is happening” to her husband, “it doesn’t make it any less painful.”
After taking on a “care partner” role for the action movie star, Emma opened up about the importance of taking care of herself as well.
“As a care partner, it’s so important to be able to ask for help and support,” she said. “You can look to organizations like the AFTD, like Hilarity for Charity — [which] is sort of a great starting point. It’s important for care partners to look after themselves so that they can be the best partner for the person that they’re caring for.”
Despite the difficult situation their family is in right now, Emma stressed that there are still “so many beautiful things happening in our lives.”
“It’s just really important for me to look up from the grief and the sadness so that I can see what is happening around us,” she concluded before adding, “Bruce would really want us to be in the joy of what is. He would really want that for me and our family.”