Emma Heming Willis, wife of Bruce Willis, used Father’s Day to share a glimpse at the retired actor’s experience with frontotemporal dementia.
“Happy Father’s Day to all the dads living with disability or disease, showing up in the ways they can and to the children who show up for them,” she wrote in an Instagram post, which depicted Willis with his face obscured by a hat.
Willis’ family first shared news of his diagnosis in 2022, stating that the actor was experiencing aphasia, a condition caused by brain damage that impacts a person’s ability to communicate and understand written and spoken language. The announcement coincided with his retirement, ending a four-decade career that spanned 100-plus film appearances and earned Willis one Golden Globe and two Primetime Emmys, among other honors.
In 2023, Willis’ first wife Demi Moore explained on social media that his “condition has progressed” to frontotemporal dementia, also referred to as FTD.
Heming Willis reflected on her husband’s updated diagnosis in the Father’s Day post, stating that “these symbolic days stir up a lot.”
“I’m profoundly sad today,” she wrote. “I wish, with every cell in my body, that things could be different for him and lighter for our family.”
But Heming Willis also used the post to share some uplifting messages, and spoke about her husband’s presence in the lives of their children; she and the actor share two daughters, in addition to his three daughters with Moore.
“What Bruce teaches our girls goes far beyond words,” she said. “Resilience, unconditional love, and the quiet strength in simply being present.”
Heming Willis ended the post on an uplifting note, encouraging readers to celebrate the fathers in their own lives.
“As they say in our FTD community, ‘It is what it is.’ And while that might sound dismissive, to me, it’s not,” she concluded. “It grounds me. It helps me return to the acceptance of what is and not fight this every step of the way like I used to. Today, let’s celebrate the badass dads, those who are here, and those we carry with us.”
Bruce Willis “Found Secret Ways Of Working Through Degenerative Illness,” Wife Reveals In Book
Bruce Willis found ways to continue to work and appear on screen through the beginning of his degenerative illness, his wife has revealed in her forthcoming book.
Australian News.com. au website reports that Willis’s plan to continue working as long as he was able will be detailed in Emma Heming Willis’s upcoming book – one she calls “not a memoir but under the category of self-help” – The Unexpected Journey, due for release in September.
The Die Hard star announced in February 2023 that he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. He had retreated from the spotlight a year earlier due to his deteriorating health.
However, according to news.com.au, Heming Willis’s book will reveal that her action hero husband had found ways to continue to work on films such as Assassin (2023) and the Detective Knight series (2022-23), having directors reduce his dialogue and employing a trusted friend to feed him lines through an earpiece.
The website adds that the actor’s deterioration wasn’t immediately apparently either on set or on screen, because Willis had always had a slow speech pattern, after having a stutter as a child – something he once told interviewer Michael Parkinson he was able to put to good effect:
“It’s how I got my sense of humour, because I realised, yeah I stutter, but I could make people laugh by doing stupid stuff.”
Heming Willis shared on Instagram that she had written the book to help others facing her husband’s condition, as well as their families.
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She said: “I really wrote the book that I wish someone had handed me the day we got our diagnosis with no hope, no direction … not much. Today life looks different for me and our family because I was able to put support into place.”
As well as his successful turns in the Die Hard franchise, Willis has enjoyed a string of hit films including Look Who’s Talking, The Sixth Sense and Death Becomes Her. He had his breakthrough success in early 1980s TV series Moonlighting, co-starring with Cybil Shepherd as private detectives David Addison and Maddie Hayes.
Emma Heming Willis Celebrates Birthday With Demi Moore, Rumer Willis in New Pic
Emma Heming Willis had some special guests to help her celebrate her birthday.
Husband Bruce Willis’ ex-wife, Demi Moore, was on hand, as was one of Moore’s daughters with Willis, Rumer. Rumer Willis brought her own 2-year-old daughter, Louetta.
Also in attendance were Heming Willis’ two daughters with the “Die Hard” star, Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11.
Heming Willis, 47, posted a photo of the group June 19 on Instagram that captures them at an outdoor table, all smiles.
“Over the past few weeks, I’ve been wrapped in so much love for my birthday. From Bruce, our girl’s, my mom, my family, and dear friends. I feel their love and support holding me up in ways words can’t always capture,” Heming Willis wrote. “Thank you to everyone who sent birthday wishes. I truly felt your continued kindness and I’m grateful. I had a beautiful day.”
Heming Willis also posted a photo of her blowing out a candle on a piece of birthday cake, as well as a video of her doing the same. In addition, she shared a video with her daughters. There were no photos or video of Willis, nor was there a mention if he was there at all.
Willis, who has been largely out of the public eye since his family revealed in 2023 that he has dementia, and Moore have remained close since they divorced. Moore, who also shares daughters Scout and Tallulah with him, celebrated Willis’ 70th birthday in March with a series of family photos on
“Happy birthday, BW! We love you,” Moore captioned the shots.
Heming Willis has also shown support for her ex-husband’s relationship with Moore.
“I liked them together as well,” she wrote along with a smiling face with hearts emoji under a throwback black-and-white picture of the ex-couple that she put on her Instagram stories in 2023.
Heming Willis, who married Willis in 2009, also paid tribute to her husband on Instagram this past Father’s Day.
“Happy Father’s Day to all the dads living with disability or disease, showing up in the ways they can and to the children who show up for them,” she wrote in part. “What Bruce teaches our girls goes far beyond words. Resilience, unconditional love, and the quiet strength in simply being present.”
The award-winning role Bruce Willis only played because he lost a bet: “We were all pros”
Friends became the success it was because of the people at its core, with the dynamic between the central group and their quirky adventures leading it to become a global sensation that hasn’t faded in popularity since its release.
From the clairvoyant capabilities of Phoebe to the on-again, off-again relationship between Ross and Rachel, there are countless moments within all ten seasons of the show to appeal to any kind of mood or season, with episodes that will rip your heart out and others that will leave you struggling to catch your breath.
From the leather trousers episode to the moment Monica and Chandler get together, each scene is marked by the characters at the heart of the story, following the antics of adult life and the act of trying to get it together.
Over the years, it wasn’t just the core six that captured our attention, with many guest stars cropping up over the years that added colour and depth to their world, whether it be the hilarious cameo from Robin Williams to the surprise appearance from Isabella Rossellini and Reese Witherspoon, the lasting power of the show has been marked by all those who were a part of it, even if just for a few minutes. But there was one appearance that was perhaps the most unexpected, with Matthew Perry describing how he managed to wrangle this star into an episode after they lost a bet.
Matthew Perry was one of the leading comedic forces on the show, with an effortless knack for comedy that led him to become one of the most beloved characters of all time. From the moment when Chandler is trapped in an ATM vestibule episode (with Jill Goodacre) to his awkward moment with Julia Roberts, the actor was perfect for the job of realising the awkward guy who is far better with jokes than any other words.
But in combination with this, he also helped bring Bruce Willis to the show during the sixth season, with the actor losing a bet after the pair worked together on the 2000 film The Whole Nine Yards. While starring alongside each other, the pair developed a close friendship and began to speculate about the success of the project. Willis bet that the film wouldn’t be a hit, while Perry disagreed, with the actor writing, “Bruce hadn’t been sure the film would work at all, and I’d bet him it would — if he lost, he had to do a guest spot on Friends.”
The film went on to make over $106 million at the global box office, a sure-fire sign of success that meant Wilis had to accept defeat and star in the most successful sit com of all time – a true loss, I’m sure. The actor played the father of Ross’s college girlfriend, a character who also had a brief romance with Rachel.
He plays a hyper-macho guy who often brushes up against Ross and his girlish ways, leading both relationships to nosedive and end in disaster. It’s another memorable performance from Willis, and one that adds to the vibrant tapestry of the show and the many people who influenced its eternal charm.
