Rumer Willis shared a heartbreaking update on her father Bruce Willis' health as he battles a subtype of frontotemporal dementia (FTD), primary progressive aphasia (PPA).
Rumer, 37, took to her Instagram Story to answer questions submitted by her followers. “How’s your dad doing?” one submission read, prompting her to admit that “people always ask [her] this question.”
She explained that it’s “a hard one to answer because, the truth is, anybody with FTD is not doing great.”
Rumer elaborated that Bruce, 70, is “doing OK in terms of somebody who’s dealing with frontotemporal dementia.”
She confessed that “those parameters” affect how she views the situation.
Still, Rumer feels “so happy and grateful” that she still gets to “hug him.” And “whether he recognizes [her] or not,” she believes he “recognizes the love,” which she feels in return.
Though Bruce is not the dad she once knew, Rumer still sees “a spark of him,” which “feels really nice.”
The singer is also thankful that she gets to bring her 2-year-old daughter, Louetta, to visit with her grandfather.
The blended Willis family announced in March 2022 that Bruce had aphasia and would therefore be retiring from his decades-long acting career.
They revealed his FTD diagnosis the following February.
In August, his wife, Emma Heming, lamented that she had made “the hard decision” to move him into a separate home, explaining that the actor’s neurodegenerative disease requires round-the-clock care in a quiet, comfortable, and safe environment.
In response to the “loud” critics who were “quick” to “judge” the call she had made as his “caregiver,” she fired back, “If they don’t have the experience of this, they don’t get a say — and they definitely don’t get a vote.”
Heming, 47, shared last month that the new living arrangement had been beneficial to their whole family, as it had given the couple’s daughters — Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11 — the opportunity to be their high-spirited kid selves.
The author made sure to note that separate homes don’t mean separate lives, as she often spends her days with the movie star.
Mabel and Evelyn also keep clothes, toys, and arts-and-crafts supplies at his house, which is located nearby.
Bruce shares Rumer, daughter Scout Willis, 34, and daughter Tallulah Willis, 31, with his first wife, actress Demi Moore, 63.
Follow the latest news on Google News
