“I don’t know if my kids will ever bounce back, but they’re learning and so am I,” Emma said of daughters Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11.
Bruce Willis‘ wife Emma Heming Willis is opening up about how their young children are handling his dementia diagnosis.
While sitting down with Vogue Australia, the 47-year-old model and influencer gave an insight into how she and Bruce’s young daughters — Mabel and Evelyn — are handling watching their dad battle with frontotemporal dementia (FTD).
“They grieve, they miss their dad so much,” Heming told the publication.
“He’s missing important milestones, that’s tough for them — but kids are resilient,” she added, “[although] I used to hate hearing that because people didn’t understand what we were walking through.”
When Bruce was first diagnosed, their daughters Mabel and Evelyn were 10 and 8; they are now 13 and 11.
“I think they’re doing well, all things considered, but it’s hard,'” Emma said. “I don’t know if my kids will ever bounce back, but they’re learning and so am I.”
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Emma recently revealed to The Sunday Times that Bruce now lives in a separate residence near the family’s home, which she called “the hardest decision.”
“But among the sadness and discomfort, it was the right move — for him, for our girls, for me. Ultimately, I could get back to being his wife. And that’s such a gift,” she shared.
Emma added it has also given Bruce more independence, giving him the chance to reconnect with friends and family.
In August, Emma — who married the 70-year-old actor in 2009 — sat down with Diane Sawyer and revealed where Bruce is at with the disease in the years since his diagnosis.
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“His language is going,” she revealed, noting they’ve “learned to adapt” to communicate with him in “a different way.”
When Sawyer asked if there are still glimpses of the old Bruce, Emma said, “We still get those days. Not days, but we get moments. It’s his laugh, right? Like, he has such, like, a hearty laugh. And, you know, sometimes you’ll see that twinkle in his eye, or that smirk, and, you know, I just get, like, transported.”
Fighting back tears, she added: “And it’s just hard to see, because as quickly as those moments appear, then it goes. It’s hard. But I’m grateful. I’m grateful that my husband is still very much here.”
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Willis was first diagnosed with aphasia in 2022, prompting his retirement from acting. The following year, his family — including ex-wife Demi Moore and their daughters Rumer, 37, Scout, 34, and Tallulah, 31 — confirmed his frontotemporal dementia diagnosis in a joint statement.
“While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis,” they said at the time. “FTD is a cruel disease that many of us have never heard of and can strike anyone.”
Since then, family members have continued to share updates. In September, Tallulah told Today her dad is “stable, which, in this situation, is good,” while Moore revealed to Variety earlier this year that she visits her ex-husband weekly.
“For me, there was never a question. I show up because that’s what you do for the people you love,” the 62-year-old actress said.
