Bruce Willis’ Wife Reveals How ‘Die Hard’ Star Reacted to Dementia Diagnosis & Says His ‘Brain Is Failing Him’

Bruce Willis‘ wife, Emma Heming Willis, is giving new insight into his battle with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in a new interview with Diane Sawyer. A preview for the interview aired during the Tuesday, August 26, episode of Good Morning America, during which Emma explained how she and her husband reacted when a doctor gave them Bruce’s official diagnosis, which they shared publicly in 2023.

“I don’t think Bruce ever really connected the dots,” Emma admitted. As for herself: “To leave there with nothing, just nothing, with a diagnosis I couldn’t pronounce … I didn’t understand what it was. I was so panicked. I just remember hearing it and just not hearing anything else. It was like I was free-falling.”

Dr. Bruce Miller, who has not treated Bruce but is an expert in FTD, said that the Die Hard star’s reaction was to be expected. “The patient is incredibly unaware of what is happening,” he explained. “I think the parts of the brain that allow us to suffer and self-reflect are lost very early in FTD.”

FTD is not Alzheimer’s disease, as it tends to strike earlier (the mean age in patients is 56). “Bruce is still very mobile,” Emma shared. “Bruce is in really great health overall. It’s just his brain that is failing him. The language is going. We’ve learned to adapt and we have a way of communicating with him which is just a different way.”

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She said she started noticing that something was off with her husband, whom she married in 2009, when he became more “subdued” than usual. “For someone who is very talkative, very engaged, he was just a little more quiet,” she revealed. “When the family would get together, he would kind of just melt a little bit.”

Bruce and Emma share two young daughters, while he also has three adult daughters with ex-wife Demi Moore. He began losing words as a childhood stutter reappeared. “He felt a little removed, very cold,” Emma continued. “Not like Bruce who was very warm and affectionate. The complete opposite of that was alarming and scary.”

Now, there are still moments of lucidity. “We still get those days,” Emma said. “Not days. We get moments. It’s his laugh, right? He has such a hearty laugh and sometimes you’ll see that twinkle in his eye or that smirk and I just get, like, transported. It’s just hard to see that. Because as quickly as those moments appear … then it goes. And it’s hard. But I’m grateful my husband is still very much here.”

Emma and Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey – A Diane Sawyer Special, Tuesday, August, 26, 8/7c, ABC