Emma Heming Willis, 47, says her husband, Bruce Willis, isn’t aware that he has frontotemporal dementia.
“I think that’s like the blessing and the curse of this is that Bruce never tapped in. He never connected the dots that he had this disease,” Heming Willis said on Wednesday’s episode of “Conversations with Cam” podcast. “And I’m really happy about that. I’m really happy that he doesn’t know about it.”
Heming Willis went on to explain why her husband didn’t fully grasp his condition.
“It’s not for everybody, but there is this term, this neurological condition that sort of comes with FTD and other types of dementia as well, called ‘anosognosia,’ where your brain can’t identify what is happening to it,” she said.
Anosognosia is a condition in which people can’t recognize the health conditions or problems they have, according to the Cleveland Clinic. It commonly affects people who have conditions such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, or schizophrenia.
“Where people think this might be denial, like they don’t want to go to the doctor because they’re like, ‘I’m fine. I’m fine.’ Actually, this is the anosognosia that comes into play. It’s not denial. It’s just that their brain is changing; this is a part of the disease,” Heming Willis said.
In 2022, the “Die Hard” star was diagnosed with aphasia and stepped away from acting. A year later, his family announced that he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.
Heming Willis said caring for Willis while watching him change has been heartbreaking.
“I’ve grieved so much, and you think that you can’t grieve anymore, but you know dementia is progressive, and it continues to take and take and take,” Heming Willis said.
Still, she says she’s come “such a long way” since those early days.
“I carry it with me all the time, but I can also bring in happiness, too, and laughter, and be able to connect with other people that feels really special and meaningful, where I didn’t ever think that I would get there,” Heming Willis said.
“I mean, and it is also hard to grieve someone who is still alive. You know, it’s not natural. It is a very strange sort of thing,” she said.
Heming Willis has been open about her journey navigating her husband’s condition.
In an August ABC special, she told Diane Sawyer that she had moved Willis to a separate one-story home nearby, where he has round-the-clock care.
In September, she told People she mistook her husband’s early dementia symptoms for marital issues.
“Conversations weren’t really aligning anymore, and our relationship started to shift. It was hard to put my finger on why and what was happening,” Heming Willis said.
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