Bruce Willis' Wife Reveals He's 'Losing His Language' due to Dementia

Bruce Willis is “still very mobile,” more than three years after retiring from acting due to aphasia and two years after being diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. 

The revelation was made by his wife, Emma Heming Willis, who sat down with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer for an interview as part of the new special “Emma & Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey.”

“Bruce is still very mobile. Bruce is in really great health overall, you know,” Heming Willis said. “It’s just his brain that is failing him… The language is going, and, you know, we’ve learned to adapt. And we have a way of communicating with him, which is just a… different way.”

The veteran actor’s family announced in 2022 that Willis had received an aphasia diagnosis. 

Aphasia is a language disorder caused by brain damage that affects a person’s ability to communicate. 

The family announced a year later in February 2023 the diagnosis had evolved to frontotemporal dementia, writing on social media: “While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis.”

Heming Willis told Sawyer that she first realized something was off with Bruce when he started acting “a little more quiet” in social settings despite usually being “very talkative and very engaged.”

“When the family would get together, he would kind of just melt a little bit,” she explained. “He felt a little removed, very cold. Not like Bruce, who is very warm and affectionate. To go in the complete opposite of that was alarming and scary.”

Three years later, Heming Willis said there are still “moments” where Bruce’s personality shines through. 

She added: “Not days, but we get moments. It’s his laugh, right? Like, he has such, like, a hearty laugh. And, you know, sometimes you’ll see that twinkle in his eye, or that smirk, and, you know, I just get, like, transported. And it’s just hard to see, because as quickly as those moments appear, then it goes.”

Heming Willis and other family members have used social media over the last several years to discuss Bruce’s diagnosis. 

Rumer Willis, the eldest daughter of Bruce and Demi Moore, marked Father’s Day in June with an emotional post in which she admitted “today is hard.”

“I feel a deep ache in my chest to talk to you and tell you everything I’m doing and what’s going on in my life,” Rumer wrote in a message to Bruce at the time. “To hug you and ask you about life and your stories and struggles and successes. I wish I asked you more questions while you could still tell me about it all. But I know you wouldn’t want me to be sad today so I’ll try to just be grateful reminding myself how lucky I am that you’re my dad and that you’re still with me and I can still hold you and hug you and kiss your cheek and rub your head I can tell you stories.”

Bruce’s family, including Demi Moore, celebrated his 70th birthday at the end of March by posting rare photos of the retired actor on social media.

“Emma & Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey” debuts on ABC at 8pm ET on Aug. 26 and streams the next day on Hulu and Disney+. 

Heming Willis has also written a book about being Bruce’s caregiver, “The Unexpected Journey,” which publishes September 9.