This holiday season, Bruce Willis is surrounded by a love that defies the challenges of his ongoing battle with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). As the star of The Sixth Sense continues to navigate this journey, his wife, Emma Heming Willis, shares a heartfelt account of how their family is ensuring he remains at the center of their festivities.
"You have to learn and adapt, making new memories while preserving the traditions that have always been a part of us," she tells People in an interview published on November 27th. "Life goes on, and it just keeps going."
Three years after the 70-year-old's diagnosis, his loved ones—including his daughters Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11, with Emma, as well as his adult kids Rumer, 37, Scout, 34, and Tallulah, 31, with ex-wife Demi Moore—are finding the silver linings amid his struggles, especially during this festive time of year.
"Dementia is a difficult journey, but there is still joy in it," Emma continues. "It's crucial that we don't paint a bleak picture around dementia. We are still laughing and finding joy. It just looks different."
Emma notes that Bruce, whom she married in 2009, has always been a source of yuletide cheer. "Bruce loved Christmas, and we cherish celebrating it with him," she explains. "It may look different now, but we've adapted to that."
Last month, Emma shared how her and Bruce's young daughters are navigating their dad's condition, admitting it's "tough for them" to cope with him "missing important milestones." "But kids are resilient," she told Vogue Australia at the time. "I used to hate hearing that because people didn't understand what we were walking through. I don't know if my kids will ever fully bounce back. But they're learning, and so am I."
Similarly, Rumer recently shared the uplifting perspective she has drawn from her dad's ailment. "I'm so happy and grateful that I still get to go and hug him," she said in a video on her Instagram Stories on November 20th. "I'm so grateful that when I go over there and give him a hug, whether he recognizes me or not, he can feel the love I've given him, and I can feel it back from him. That I still see a spark of him and he can feel the love that I'm giving—it feels really nice."
