People Bruce Willis' daughters deal openly with dementia
Three years after Hollywood star Bruce Willis was shockingly diagnosed with dementia, his wife Emma Heming Willis describes her experiences as a caregiver in the book "A Very Special Journey". Their daughters were still small when they were diagnosed.
16.11.2025, 01:19
SDA
She always spoke openly about the illness with Mabel (13) and Evelyn (11), the 47-year-old told the German Press Agency. "I never wanted our daughters to think it was something to be ashamed of or to hide. Quite the opposite," said Heming Willis. "I want them to see how their father's fate sheds light on something that affects millions of families."
Action star Bruce Willis was 67 years old when he was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a rapidly progressive form of dementia, in November 2022.
Hope for more openness and research successes
With "A Very Special Journey", Emma Heming Willis says she has written a book that she herself would have liked as a guide to this challenge. "If we don't talk about it, nothing will change," said the author. She hopes that more openness and research during her children's lifetime will lead to finding a treatment and hopefully a cure for dementia.
"Bruce has touched so many lives. His work is tremendous and will live on forever," said his wife. "But he has also paved the way for important conversations about dementia, caregiving and what it means to love someone in this transition."
