Publications
Partners
From the moment Bruce Willis was diagnosed with aphasia last year, his family have been rallying around him, but his wife admits it hasn't been easy.
Emma Heming Willis (45) says she’s been making a conscious effort every single day to live the best life she can.
“I don’t want it to be misconstrued that I'm good because I’m not,” she says in a video posted on Instagram.
The Die Hard actor was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, which causes his cognition and behaviour to deteriorate daily.
That diagnosis, made earlier this year, came on the heels of his family’s announcement last year that he was retiring from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, a condition that affects his ability to communicate and understand others.
READ MORE | How Hollywood star Bruce Willis is navigating his journey with dementia with the help of family
In her emotional video, Emma asked her “fellow care partners” to take a moment out of their day to find something beautiful – like a picture – and send it to her because that’s how she’s been coping.
“It’s so important for us to break up our thinking which can feel (for me) very much like doom and gloom,” she says.
Emma says while it looks like she’s managing well, it’s not always the case and she’s really just trying to put her “best foot forward” for the sake of her daughters, Mabel (11) and Evelyn (9), and for Bruce (68).
“[Because] he wouldn't want me to live any other way,” she says in the video.
She’s not the first family member to speak out about Bruce’s diagnosis and how it’s affected them.
Tallulah Willis, his youngest daughter from his first marriage to actress Demi Moore, wrote an emotional essay for Vogue this year detailing how she struggled to accept his dementia diagnosis.
“He'd had two babies with my stepmother, Emma Heming Willis, and I thought he’d lost interest in me. Though this couldn’t have been further from the truth, my adolescent brain tortured itself with some faulty math: I’m not beautiful enough for my mother, I’m not interesting enough for my father,” Tallulah (29) wrote.
Tallulah also said she had to work on herself in order to be her best self for her dad. “Now that I’m feeling better I [asked] myself, 'How can I make him more comfortable?' ” she added.
READ MORE | Bruce Willis' daughter Tallulah on how she came to terms with his dementia diagnosis
It's been the same for Emma. She says she's been finding little moments for herself each day and constantly shares memories and milestones on social media.
“If we don’t look after ourselves, we're no good to anyone we love."
The mom of two received many messages of love and support. “Caregivers – one of the very hardest jobs on the planet that not many can comprehend unless living it. Take good care of you, it’s so very important,” one person wrote.
“I admire you so very much. When you said, 'Bruce wouldn’t want it any other way', I physically shouted out YES! Thank you for your openness and sharing YOU,” another commented.
And while she’s the first to admit she doesn't have it all “down to a fine science”, she says she'll keep trying, imploring other caregivers to do the same.
“I ask that you’ll [also] consider to keep looking for that one beautiful thing or moment in your day.”
SOURCES: HELLOMAGAZINE.COM,INSTAGRAM.COM, VOGUE.COM, EONLINE.COM, NESWS24.COM, DAILYMAIL. CO.UK
