Bruce Willis has been ill for almost two years. The 68-year-old actor, who starred in action classics such as “Die Hard” and “Armageddon”, suffers from aphasia and therefore decided to retire from cinema, his family announced in March 2022; They also announced in February 2023 that he also suffered from dementia. “There is no treatment for this disease, a reality that we hope will change in the coming years,” they lamented in a statement. It is his relatives who have looked after the interpreter during this time: his wife of 15 years, Emma Heming, with whom he has two daughters, Mabel and Evelyn, aged 11 and nine, as well as his ex-wife Demi Moore, with whom he maintains a loving relationship, and his three eldest daughters, the product of this 13-year marriage: Rumer (35 years), Scott (32) and Tallullah (30). Now Heming, his primary caregiver, has announced that she will talk to him about her trial in a book she will publish next year.
The news was announced by Heming herself, 45, who was a model and is now a businesswoman (she has a health and wellness platform for women called Make Time Wellness). There is no title or release date yet, but it is known that it will be published by 2025 and that it will be published by The Open Field, the publishing house founded by married Maria Shriver, journalist and former first lady of California 25 years to Arnold Schwarzenegger, part of Penguin Random House.
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The volume will explore Heming's personal experiences but will also include interviews and advice from experts, providing “an inspiring and thought-provoking guide for those seeking support in coping with their loved one's dementia,” as the author and editor explains . on Shriver's Sunday Paper website. “I am grateful for this important, unique and healing opportunity to use my voice to raise awareness, encourage and support others,” Heming said on the website, who also wants the book to get into the hands “of Co-Careers, but especially from …” reaches out to new co-carers who have just received this life-changing news.” “They should know that they are not alone and that there is support, even hope. In a perfect world, I imagine this book in doctor's offices and being handed out to them to take home. “I want this book to be like a warm hug, but it is what we need on this journey.”
Heming says that for her, “knowledge is power.” “Building a supportive community around me was critical,” she explained, speaking clearly and directly about her husband’s illness. “It has given me stability and I have regained some control, a control that was completely changed when the diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia reached our family universe. Dementia affects not only our loved ones, but can shake the foundation of the entire family and, if you let it, even yourself. Recognizing the right sources of learning and self-enlightenment has been powerful and has given me space to continue to move forward in the most positive way and be a better mother, wife, daughter, friend and co-caregiver. I want to be able to share it with the next person who finds themselves in that place.”
The actor's family shares photos with him – the last one from a few days ago, which Demi Moore uploaded on the occasion of her 30th birthday with him and his daughter Tallullah – and from time to time reveals small details about his health. Until now, and after two years of diagnosis, Heming hasn't spoken much about her husband and the impact his illness has had on her and their two young daughters. Last September, to mark World Frontotemporal Dementia Awareness Week, the former model gave an interview on the morning television show Today, one of the most watched in the United States. Then she tearfully admitted, “It's hard to know if.” Bruce knows what's happening to him. “It is difficult for the person diagnosed. It's also difficult for the family. And it's no different for Bruce, me or our girls. When they say it is a family disease, it really is,” he admitted. “Understanding what happened, accepting what is, doesn't make it any less painful, but just knowing what's happening to Bruce makes it a little bit easier.”
The aphasia that initially affected the actor caused speech impairment, but the dementia is becoming increasingly aggressive. Willis, who became a grandfather for the first time nine months ago, rarely goes outside anymore, and when he did, it was common to see some photographers behind him. Heming begged them to stop chasing him as they were shouting at him to get his attention and endangering his safety.