Bruce Willis' wife, Emma Heming, has revealed that their marriage has "changed" due to the tensions brought on by the actor's dementia.
He retired from Hollywood in 2022 after being diagnosed with aphasia – a brain disorder that impairs language skills.
In 2023, the family announced that the disease had “progressed” and he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD).
Unlike Alzheimer's, FTD does not immediately cause memory loss, but first affects the parts of the brain related to language and personality.
Emma - who has moved Bruce to a special home where he is cared for by a permanent team - is publishing a book about caring for him entitled The Unexpected Journey.
"FTD doesn't scream, it whispers. It's very gray to know where Bruce ends and the disease begins," she told People.
“I started to notice that his stuttering was returning [and] the conversations were no longer coherent. It was hard to put my finger on why and what was happening.”
The disorder also entered their family life and the couple - who have two daughters, Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11 - experienced marital tensions they had never experienced before.
"I think for most people, by the time you get the diagnosis, you're already in that role," Emma explained, saying that the official confirmation of the disease brought some relief: 'Ah, well, it wasn't from my husband, it was from the disease taking over part of his brain.'
Early in her illness, she felt "very isolated" and "too scared to talk to anyone," as she tried to balance caring for Bruce, being a mother, and maintaining her privacy.
“I was in so much sadness and darkness for so long,” said the 47-year-old. “It felt like this was happening only to us.”
Later, her coping style changed, as she realized that “it would be helpful to talk openly about this and raise awareness so that people would go to the doctor sooner, get diagnosed sooner, and get involved in clinical trials.”
She added: "FTD is often misdiagnosed as bipolar, midlife crisis or depression. It's not on the radar at all, which is why I think coming forward with Bruce's diagnosis was so important."
As a result, her memoirs were written to be "the book I wish someone had handed me the day we got the diagnosis." /GazetaExpress/
t7 live
