Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Download the AppGet your news faster with our mobile experience

Bruce Willis' wife Emma says he has 'never connected the dots' on dementia diagnosis


LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 07: Bruce Willis with wife Emma Heming attends the UK Premiere of 'A Good Day To Die Hard' at Empire Leicester Square on February 7, 2013 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Bruce Willis’ wife, Emma Heming Willis, is opening up more about the struggles of his frontotemporal dementia.

UNITED STATES - APRIL 04:  Bruce Willis and girlfriend Emma hemming at the private screening of "Leatherheads" held in the Museum Of Modern Art with a dinner party following at the "21 Club" ..  (Photo by Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
UNITED STATES - APRIL 04: Bruce Willis and girlfriend Emma hemming at the private screening of "Leatherheads" held in the Museum Of Modern Art with a dinner party following at the "21 Club" .. (Photo by Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

In a clip from the “Conversations with Cam” podcast, Emma said the “Die Hard” star has “never, never tapped in” to fully understanding his condition.

“I think that's like the blessing and the curse of this, is that he never connected the dots that he had this disease, and I'm really happy about that. I'm really happy that he doesn't know about it,” she told host Cameron Oaks Rogers.

Willis, in addition to his dementia, has anosognosia, a condition where the brain cannot recognize one or more other health conditions the individual may have, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 07:  Bruce Willis with wife Emma Heming attends the UK Premiere of 'A Good Day To Die Hard' at Empire Leicester Square on February 7, 2013 in London, England.  (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 07: Bruce Willis with wife Emma Heming attends the UK Premiere of 'A Good Day To Die Hard' at Empire Leicester Square on February 7, 2013 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

RELATED: DEMI MOORE HAS FOUND IT 'DIFFICULT' TO SEE BRUCE WILLIS STRUGGLE WITH DEMENTIA

As Emma explained, “it's where your brain can't identify what is happening to it,” so for Willis and other people with the condition, they “think this is their normal.”

“People think this might be denial, like they don't want to go to the doctor because they're like, ‘I'm fine, I'm fine,’ actually, this is the anosognosia that comes into play. It's not denial. It's just that their brain is changing. This is a part of the disease,” she continued.

The “Pulp Fiction” star was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in 2023, an umbrella term for a group of brain diseases that affect the fontal and temporal lobes of the brain, areas associated with personality, behavior, and language, per the Mayo Clinic. With FTD, parts of those lobes atrophy, causing changes in personality and loss of language, depending on which portions are impacted.

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 15:  Bruce Willis and Emma Heming attend the "Glass" New York Premiere at SVA Theater on January 15, 2019 in New York City.  (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 15: Bruce Willis and Emma Heming attend the "Glass" New York Premiere at SVA Theater on January 15, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

Emma said on the podcast that Willis is “still very much present in his body” and said that as his dementia has progressed, “we have progressed along with him. We've adapted along with him.”

The couple married in 2009 and share daughters Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11. Willis also has three daughters with his ex-wife, Demi Moore, Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah.

NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - 2019/10/11: Bruce Willis and Emma Heming Willis wearing dress by Bottega Veneta attend Motherless Brooklyn premiere during 57th New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall. (Photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - 2019/10/11: Bruce Willis and Emma Heming Willis wearing dress by Bottega Veneta attend Motherless Brooklyn premiere during 57th New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall. (Photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

“He has a way of connecting with me, our children that might not be the same as you would connect with your loved one, but it's still very beautiful,” she shared. “It's still very meaningful. It's just — it's just different. You just learn how to adapt.”

Follow us on Instagram @WeArePauseRewind for all your pop culture obsessions.