“I don’t need him to know that I am his wife… I just want to feel that I have a connection with him. And I do.”
Emma Heming Willis says she moved Bruce Willis to a separate, one-story home with round-the-clock care as his frontotemporal dementia advances — a choice she calls “one of the hardest” of her life.
The update came during an ABC prime-time special with Diane Sawyer, where Heming Willis detailed how the family has restructured daily life to meet the 70-year-old actor’s needs while protecting their two young daughters’ routine.
The hourlong special, Emma & Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey – A Diane Sawyer Special, aired Tuesday night on ABC and is available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu.
In the broadcast, Heming Willis, 47, discussed caregiving, how the couple communicates today, and her forthcoming memoir, The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope and Yourself on the Caregiving Path, due out Sept. 9.
A difficult change in living arrangements
Heming Willis said the family ultimately decided Bruce would live in a nearby, single-level residence staffed 24/7 — a setting better suited to his safety and comfort as symptoms progress.
She visits for breakfast and dinner each day and brings their daughters for regular meals, preserving family rhythms even as the household itself operates on two addresses. “One of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make,” she said of the move.
She added that while her husband’s cognition and language have declined, he remains physically healthy and mobile.
“It’s just his brain that is failing him,” Heming Willis told Sawyer, saying “the language is going” and the family has adapted to new, low-verbal ways of connecting.
What the family noticed — and when
Heming Willis traced the earliest signs of change to subtle shifts years before a formal diagnosis: a re-emergence of Willis’s childhood stutter, missed cues at work and, at home, a quieter, more withdrawn demeanor that didn’t feel like the warm, affectionate partner she knew.
Those unexplained changes strained the marriage and left her questioning what was happening until doctors identified frontotemporal dementia (FTD) following his earlier aphasia diagnosis.
The family first disclosed aphasia publicly in March 2022, and confirmed FTD in February 2023.
With more clarity about the condition, Heming Willis said she began deliberately shrinking the household’s social exposure to reduce agitation — a practical shift that meant fewer playdates and sleepovers for their daughters at home and a quieter environment overall.
“I isolated our whole family, and that was by design,” she explained.
Holding on to connection
Despite the progression, Heming Willis said she still sees unmistakable flashes of the Bruce Willis the public remembers — a hearty laugh, a quick smirk, a familiar twinkle — even if those moments are brief.
“I don’t need him to know that I am his wife… I just want to feel that I have a connection with him. And I do,” she said in the interview.
The couple share daughters Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11; Willis also has three adult daughters — Rumer, Scout and Tallulah — with ex-wife Demi Moore. Heming Willis said Bruce continues to light up around his family, and that he appears to recognize her, even if words don’t always come.
About FTD — and why it looks different from Alzheimer’s
Frontotemporal dementia is a cluster of disorders caused by degeneration in the frontal and temporal lobes; it tends to affect behavior, personality and language earlier than memory.
It is the most common form of dementia for people under 60, though overall it is rarer than Alzheimer’s and accounts for a small fraction of total dementia cases. There is currently no cure.
The Willis family’s 2023 public statement emphasized that, while the diagnosis was painful, finally having a clear name for what was happening brought relief and allowed them to focus on the right support.
A memoir aimed at caregivers
Heming Willis’s book, The Unexpected Journey, expands on themes from Tuesday’s special — the shock of diagnosis, the practicalities of care planning, and the emotional recalibration required of families — and is slated for a Sept. 9 release.
The ABC program also spotlighted her advocacy around FTD awareness and caregiver supports, part of what she describes as finding purpose inside a changed life.
What’s next
For fans wondering how to watch, ABC says the special streams next-day on Disney+ and Hulu.
As for the family, Heming Willis signaled that the priority remains consistency — predictable visits, quieter routines and a care setting designed around safety — as they continue to navigate a disease where good days and hard days can arrive without warning.
Editor’s note: If you or someone you love is facing FTD, organizations such as The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD) offer educational resources and helpline support for patients and care partners.
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