Emma Heming Opens Up About Holiday Challenges Amid Bruce Willis’ Dementia
Emma Heming Willis is offering a glimpse into how holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas have changed as her husband, Bruce Willis, continues to face dementia.
In an interview with People published on Thursday, November 27, Heming Willis, 47, shared a positive perspective on how her family celebrates the holidays in light of the Die Hard star’s diagnosis.
“Bruce loved Christmas, and we love celebrating it with him. It just looks different, so we’ve adapted,” she explained at the End Well 2025 conference held in Los Angeles last week.
The model noted, “You have to learn and adapt, creating new memories while maintaining the traditions we’ve always had.”
She continued, “Life goes on. It just does. Dementia is challenging, but joy still exists. It’s important that we avoid painting dementia in an overly negative light. We are still laughing; there is still joy, just in a different form.”
Bruce’s family revealed that he was first diagnosed with aphasia, a language disorder, in March 2022. The following year, they announced his condition had progressed to frontotemporal dementia, a progressive brain disease affecting communication, behavior, and mobility.
Last week, Bruce’s daughter Rumer, 37, provided an update on her father’s health via her Instagram. (Bruce shares Rumer with ex-wife Demi Moore, along with daughters Scout, 34, and Tallulah, 31. Bruce and Emma also have daughters Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11.)
When a fan asked Rumer about her dad during an Instagram Q&A, she responded.
“People often ask me this question, and it’s a tough one to answer because, honestly, anyone with FTD isn’t doing great,” Rumer said. “But he’s doing OK considering he’s dealing with frontotemporal dementia, you know what I mean?”
“I’m so happy and grateful that I can still go and hug him,” she added. “I’m thankful that even if he doesn’t recognize me, he can feel the love I’m giving, and I can feel it back from him. I still see a spark of him, and he can sense my love.”
Heming Willis has previously mentioned that Bruce has moved to a second home with a full-time care team as his health has declined.
“Making that decision was one of the toughest I’ve faced,” Heming Willis shared during an ABC special titled Emma and Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey – A Diane Sawyer Special in August.
She added, “But I knew, above all, Bruce would want what’s best for our daughters. He’d want them in a home that better meets their needs, not his.”
In her memoir, The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Caregiving Path, released in September, Heming Willis discussed how the second home has been beneficial.
“One advantage of getting help, whether you bring it into your home or arrange for your loved one to move to a community-based setting, is the opportunity to return to your original role in their life,” Heming Willis wrote.
Heming Willis confessed that it “took time to view it that way and reframe my feelings instead of succumbing to guilt,” adding that she can now “truly appreciate our precious time together, and there’s no way I can repay our care team for that.”
She added that she is “eternally grateful to enjoy Bruce again as his wife and that our kids have their mom back.”
