Bruce Willis’ wife says he’s still ‘very present’ in health update amid dementia battle: ‘Learned to adapt’ (exclusive)

Joey NolfiWed, September 9, 2026 at 2:00 PM UTC

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Bruce Willis and Emma Heming Willis in New York City in 2019Credit: Jamie McCarthy/GettyKey Points -

Entertainment Weekly has an exclusive look inside Emma Heming Willis’ life with Bruce Willis amid the Die Hard star’s dementia battle.

Heming Willis describes her husband’s diagnosis as “terrible,” but says “he’s very present.”

“We have still so many beautiful moments of joy and connection, and I think that’s really important to share,” she added.

Hollywood actor Bruce Willis is still “very present” amid his dementia battle, wife Emma Heming Willis reveals in an exclusive look inside the couple’s life together.

Heming Willis opens up about her interactions with the 71-year-old Die Hard and Pulp Fiction star as they navigate living with his frontotemporal dementia in EW’s exclusive preview of her emotional interview on the new MS NOW talk series Because We Care with Richard Lui.

“We have still so many beautiful moments of joy and connection, and I think that’s really important to share because I think there’s such a negative narrative around dementia,” Heming Willis tells Lui in the clip, referencing the star’s initial diagnosis aphasia (which turned into frontotemporal dementia) in 2023. “We need to be careful and reframe that. When we think about that or don’t want to talk about dementia and put it in a corner, the person living with the disease and their caregiver aren’t seen, they aren’t supported.”

Heming Willis says in the footage that she fells “it’s important to know that it’s hard and it’s a terrible disease, but we have so many moments of joy and connection that aren’t your norm, but it’s okay.”

She adds of the family: “We’ve learned to adapt and show up for Bruce.”

The couple’s family has grown over the years, after the pair married in 2009 after first meeting at a Los Angeles gym. Together, they have two daughters, Mabel and Evelyn, while Willis has three daughters, Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah, with ex-wife Demi Moore.

Many members of the family — including Moore — have shared updates on Willis’ condition in recent years, with the actor even making an appearance at daughter Tallulah’s wedding in August.

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“A tender moment with my dad and Justin at the start of wedding weekend,” Tallulah wrote in a caption of a photo from the event, showing her father and husband together.

Though Heming Willis remains optimistic in most statements that she gives on her husband, she previously said that her spouse isn’t always aware of his condition.

Bruce Willis and wife Emma Heming WillisCredit: Getty Images

“I think they think this is their normal. That’s not for everybody. There’s this term — this neurological condition that comes with FTD and other types of dementia — called anosognosia, where your brain can’t identify what’s happening to it,” Emma said on the Conversations With Cam podcast. “People think this might be denial, they don’t want to go to the doctor because they’re like, ‘I’m fine’ — this is where the anosognosia comes into play. It’s not denial, it’s just that their brain is changing. This is a part of the disease.”

Lui’s interview with Heming Willis marks the first in a growing line of caregiver-related discussions with a roster of celebrity guests set to appear on Because We Care.

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Other subjects include Seth Rogen and wife Lauren Rogen (whose mother has Alzheimer’s); Actress Yvette Nicole Brown (caregiver to her father), and Sen. Andy Kim, who opens up about caring for his father on the series as well.

Because We Care with Richard Lui is scheduled to air in full at 12 p.m. ET via the MS NOW Membership platform available on the network’s website, as well as in the App Store and Google Play.

on Entertainment Weekly

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