Bruce Willis’ Wife Shares How Their Holidays Stay Bright Amid His Illness

Emma Heming Willis says the holidays are still a happy time for her family, even as they adjust to Bruce Willis’ health challenges. She shared her thoughts with People and described how they have found their own way to enjoy the season with the actor, who is living with frontotemporal dementia.

According to Emma, the mood in their home remains warm and positive. She told the magazine that spending Christmas together still brings joy, even if things do not look the same as they used to. “It’s joyous. It’s just different,” she said.

Emma explained that Bruce has always loved Christmas, and that hasn’t changed. Their family continues to celebrate with him, but they do it in ways that fit their new normal. As she put it, “Bruce loved Christmas, and we love celebrating it with him. It just looks different, so we’ve kind of adapted to that.”

Bruce, now 70, was first diagnosed with aphasia in 2022 before receiving his FTD diagnosis. After his condition became public, his family announced that he would no longer continue acting. Since then, Emma has spent a lot of time helping others understand dementia. She often speaks about it in interviews and on social media, and she has also released a book called The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Caregiving Path.

Emma says she knows the holidays can be especially challenging for families caring for someone with dementia. She added a lighthearted tip of her own, saying, “You’ve got to play Die Hard. It counts as a Christmas movie.” But she also stressed the importance of staying flexible and open to change. She believes new traditions can blend well with the old ones.

She explained her view clearly: “You have to learn and adapt and make new memories, bring in the same traditions that you had before. Life goes on. It just goes on. Dementia is hard, but there is still joy in it. I think it’s important that we don’t paint such a negative picture around dementia. We are still laughing. There is still joy. It just looks different.”

Emma and Bruce were married in 2009 and have two daughters together, Mabel and Evelyn. Bruce also shares three daughters with Demi Moore: Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah. Emma says their life as a family has always been simple, and that has helped them focus on what truly matters. She believes that being close to Bruce and sharing the moment with him is what brings her peace.

She described it by saying, “[The family’s life] is very simple. It always actually has been. I think that just being able to be present with him that is the joy. Me being able to be his wife with him. Those are the moments.”

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