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Bruce Willis‘ wife, Emma Heming Willis, got real about the “judgement” she faced after revealing that he lives in a second home amid his health battle with dementia. “The criticism and the judgment that people receive is off the charts,” Heming Willis, 49, said while appearing on the Tuesday, October 28, episode of NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas Reports while reflecting on the reactions to her husband’s living situation. “But I wanted to be very transparent, and I hope that it would support the next caregiver who has to make a really hard decision like the one that I had to make.” Heming Willis went on to add that deciding where a sick partner should live is “the hardest decision for anyone to have to make.” “I mean, that didn’t come lightly. … These are hard decisions that we have to make as caregivers,” she continued. “And we have young children in our house, and I needed to make the best and safest decision for my husband as well as our children.” Heming Willis and Willis, 70, who wed in 2009, share daughters Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11. Additionally, Willis shares adult daughters, Rumer, 37, Scout, 34, and Tallulah, 31, with ex-wife Demi Moore. “I know that Bruce wouldn’t want our children’s lives to be clouded by his diagnosis, and I wanted other caregivers to feel seen about this idea of that if it comes time to place their loved one in a care facility,” she continued during the interview. Heming Willis first revealed that Willis was living in a separate residence during ABC’s Emma and Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey – A Diane Sawyer Special on August 26. At the time, she explained that he was living in a single story home near her and their kids’ house with his care team. After admitting it was the “hardest decision” to make, she continued, “But I knew, first and foremost, Bruce would want that for our daughters. You know, he would want them to be in a home that was more tailored to their needs, not his needs.” Heming Willis also shared that she and their daughters spend “a lot” of time at Willis’ main residence for breakfast and dinner visits. Willis’ health problems first came to light when his family announced he was diagnosed with aphasia in 2022. Aphasia is a brain disorder “that affects how you communicate,” per The Mayo Clinic. “It can impact your speech, as well as the way you write and understand both spoken and written language.” Parade Daily🎬 SIGN UP for Parade’s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 One year later, his family shared that his condition progressed to frontotemporal dementia. The disease is “an umbrella term for a group of brain diseases that mainly affect the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain,” per The Mayo Clinic. “These areas of the brain are associated with personality, behavior and language.” In addition to opening up about her experience as a caretaker in interviews, Heming Willis also gave fans a glimpse into the experience in her September memoir, The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Caregiving Path.
