Emma Heming sat down for her first interview since husband Bruce Willis’ dementia diagnosis was made public, telling Hoda Kotb on Monday that it’s “hard to know” if the actor is aware of his condition and deteriorating health.
The former model, 45, appeared on the “Today” show to help kick off World Frontotemporal Dementia Awareness Week.
Sitting alongside CEO of the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration Susan Dickinson, Heming said, “Dementia is hard.”
She continued, “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 this is a family disease, it really is.”
In March 2022, Willis’ family publicly revealed that he’d been diagnosed with aphasia – a condition that affects a person’s language processing and communication abilities.
He also stepped away from acting at the time.
Then, in February 2023, Willis’ family revealed that his condition had “progressed” and he’d been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.
Heming, who proudly calls herself Willis’ “care partner,” said learning of the “Die Hard” actor’s diagnosis “was the blessing and the curse.”
She explained, “To finally understand what was happening, so that I could be into the acceptance of what is. It doesn’t make it any less painful, but just being … in the know of what is happening to Bruce makes it a little easier.”
Heming, who shares daughters Mabel, 11, and Evelyn, 9, with the actor, said his diagnosis is “teaching them so much – how to love, how to care, and it’s a really beautiful thing amongst the sadness.”
Still, none of this has been easy on the family. In August 2023, Heming took to Instagram to tell her followers that she always tries to “look for something beautiful” in her “stressful” days.
She said, “I know it looks like I’m out living my best life, [but] I have to make a conscious effort every single day to live the best life that I can. I do that for myself, I do that for our two children and [I do that for] Bruce, who would not want me to live any other way. So I don’t want it to be misconstrued that I’m good, ’cause I’m not. I’m not good.”
Heming added that she tries to put her “best foot forward” is a daily task that “does not come to [her] easily,” but it’s one she feels is “really important” for “the sake of [herself] and [her] family.”
Heming and Willis, 68, tied the knot in March 2009 before renewing their vows in 2019.
The actor was married to his first wife, 60-year-old actress Demi Moore, from November 1987 to October 2000. They are parents to daughters Rumer, 34, Scout, 32, and Tallulah, 29.