Emma Heming Willis shared a brief update on her husband Bruce’s health as he continues to battle dementia. During the Wednesday, May 27, episode of Today, the British model, 47, said she and the actor are moving forward with positivity and good spirits.
“We’re Doing Well”
“You know, we’re doing well,” she told host Savannah Guthrie. “My husband is supported and loved, and we’re doing the best we can under the circumstances.”
When Emma appeared later on TODAY With Jenna & Sheinelle, she kept things vague about her husband and focused more on her own well-being. Host Sheinelle Jones pointed out how Emma has been a “partner to Bruce for so long and taking care of him,” then asked when she decided to “take a look at her own health.”
“It’s so important. As women, we always put everyone else’s needs before our own, but if we don’t care for ourselves, how can we care for the people we love?” the actress considered.
Emma explained how she started experiencing her own brain fog and went to a doctor who “completely dismissed” her concerns.
“I walked out of there thinking, ‘You know what? This isn’t right.’ And I sought out a brain health doctor who introduced me to this term ‘brain health,’” she recalled. “With lifestyle changes and a fistful of vitamins, I really started to feel better. Once I started to learn about brain health, and that there’s actionable things we can do to support our brain for tomorrow, I was all in.”
Emma Heming Willis Struggled With Brain Fog
Emma said she was “not feeling like herself” and would walk into a room wondering why she was there in the first place.
“[I was] in a haze, just not feeling right,” she expressed.
Inside Bruce Willis’ Dementia Battle
Emma’s musings on her own health come amid Bruce’s medical struggles. The actor was first diagnosed with aphasia in March 2022, and his condition progressed to frontotemporal dementia by February 2023.
During the Wednesday, January 28, episode of the “Conversations With Cam” podcast, Emma revealed that Bruce, 71, “doesn’t know” he has dementia.
“I think that’s the blessing and the curse of this, Bruce never tapped in — he never connected the dots that he has this disease and I’m really happy about that, that he doesn’t know about it,” she said, then praising their loved ones for “learn[ing] how to adapt and meet [him] where [he’s] at.”
Bruce — who now lives separately from his family home — was officially diagnosed three years ago, but Emma believes his issues could have begun earlier.
“It’s really hard to know when Bruce’s disease started and where he started to end,” she pondered. “I mean, I don’t really have a clear answer on that and I don’t think I ever will. And I know a lot of other couples that have gone through this. It’s kind of that same sort of trajectory of like you think your marriage is falling apart, you consider divorce, and then you land on finally a diagnosis where everything starts to kind of make sense.”
