Bruce Willis’ wife believes that one of his iconic movie roles could be partially responsible for his recent health problems.
Willis - one of the world’s most recognizable Hollywood stars - has been suffering from frontotemporal dementia (FTD) for some time now, and his wife Emma Heming Willis has been his primary caregiver for much of that.
Now, she has written a book called The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Caregiving Path.
Bruce Willis and Emma Heming Willis are no longer living together
As the 70-year-old actor’s health has deteriorated, he has lost some of his faculties, which his wife explained have left them communicating through their ‘own language’.
They started to notice the condition as Willis struggled to remember lines on set and experienced feelings of confusion.
He was eventually diagnosed with FTD, which is a degenerative disease that affects his behavior, language, and personality.
In her book, Heming Willis said that she initially wondered whether his role in Die Hard was to blame for some of his issues.
She told Fox News Digital: “When Bruce was shooting the first Die Hard, he shot a gun underneath a table multiple times, and they didn’t have him wear any kind of ear protection,
“That took out a huge percentage of his hearing. And over time, for all of us as we age, our hearing starts to go a bit.”
She continued: “That’s what I thought was happening,
“Maybe we’re having this miscommunication.
“He is really not hearing me properly.
“I thought maybe that’s why we weren’t communicating as well as we used to, because of his hearing.”
The hearing 'never posed a real problem’ according to Heming Willis, and she wasn’t too bothered when her husband started to ‘check out’ at family dinners, assuming that he was just allowing her and her three daughters to ‘yak it up’ and have some ‘girl talk’.
There were other signs that something wasn’t right
However, other symptoms started to present themselves, and Willis’ condition started to deteriorate.
“Bruce had a severe stutter as a young child,” Heming Willis explained.
“When he went to college, he figured out how to work with that stutter. “He’s always been a person that stuttered, but he managed it throughout his life.
“And for me, some of the first signs were noticing that his stutter was coming back."
“And … our relationship just felt very different. It all felt very different. Our conversations and our connection just felt off.
“It was really hard for me to understand why or what was happening to be able to put my finger on it.
“I never realized, or would’ve ever thought, or have known, that this sort of lack of empathy was a symptom of young dementia.”
She added: "I just knew in my gut that something else was going on,
“That’s when I approached his doctor.
“And I think that’s so important for other caregivers as well.
“We know our person better than anybody. It’s important for us that we know it’s OK, and we should feel it’s empowering to go to our loved one’s doctor and say, ‘Something is not right, and I really need you to listen to me. Hear me.’”
Now, with the pair living separately as Willis receives more care, Heming Willis has been sharing her experiences in the hope of providing help and comfort to others.
“I love and care for my husband so much."
“I want him to go into this next chapter of his life cared for and loved.
“But I think what has also helped me is the advocacy part of all this, being able to use my voice to help somebody else.
“That has been really comforting to me, to be able to share what I’ve learned along the way.
“I think being able to give back in any way I can has been the way for me to continue walking through this journey.”