Bruce Willis's wife shares the subtle first sign that he had dementia

Emma Heming Willis has opened up about the early warning signs that Bruce Willis had before he was diagnosed with dementia.

The 69-year-old Die Hard star officially retired from acting in 2022 after a diagnosis of aphasia, a language disorder affecting speech and comprehension.

Bruce and Emma in 2019. Credit: Theo Wargo/Getty

Bruce's family later shared that his condition had worsened, with a new diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

Though Bruce has stayed largely out of the public eye, his family continues to share updates on his condition through social media, often highlighting the strength of their blended family.

Emma Heming Willis, his wife, reflected on the early warning signs in a new interview with Town & Country.

"For Bruce, it started with language," Emma, 46, explained.

She recalled his childhood struggle with a severe stutter and the transformative impact of a college theater teacher.

Emma continued: "He had a severe stutter as a child. He went to college, and there was a theater teacher who said, 'I’ve got something that’s going to help you.'

"From that class, Bruce realized that he could memorize a script and be able to say it without stuttering. That’s what propelled him into acting."

Emma has opened up about the signs Bruce was developing dementia. Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty

Despite overcoming this early challenge, the star always retained a subtle stutter, though he became adept at concealing it, Emma noted.

However, when his speech started changing, Emma didn’t immediately suspect it was due to a serious health condition.

"As his language started changing, it (seemed like it) was just a part of a stutter, it was just Bruce. Never in a million years would I think it would be a form of dementia for someone so young," she admitted.

Years of uncertainty followed until Willis was finally diagnosed with FTD, a rare form of dementia often "misdiagnosed," "misunderstood," or even missed altogether, according to Emma.

“I say that FTD whispers, it doesn’t shout. It’s hard for me to say, ‘This is where Bruce ended, and this is where his disease started to take over,’” she said.

Bruce with his family. Credit: Stefanie Keenan/Getty

In February 2023, Bruce's family publicly confirmed his FTD diagnosis, following a previous announcement in March 2022 that he would retire from acting due to aphasia.

Emma's comments come over a year after Bruce’s daughter, Tallulah Willis, shared her own perspective on her father's early dementia symptoms in a moving essay for Vogue.

She recalled sensing a change long before his diagnosis.

“It started out with a kind of vague unresponsiveness, which the family chalked up to Hollywood hearing loss: ‘Speak up! Die Hard messed with Dad’s ears,’” she wrote.

Over time, that unresponsiveness grew, and at one point, she took it personally, feeling he might have "lost interest" in her after the birth of his two youngest daughters.

In her essay, Tallulah also reflected on her own health struggles, including borderline personality disorder, ADHD, and anorexia nervosa, and described realizing that her father was facing his own private battles.

“All kinds of cognitive testing was being conducted, but we didn’t have an acronym yet,” she said.

By 2021, she said she was aware of her father’s deteriorating health.

She remembered a moment of sadness at a wedding on Martha’s Vineyard, when she realized: “I would never get that moment, my dad speaking about me in adulthood at my wedding. It was devastating.”

Now, as she focuses on her own recovery, Tallulah says she aims to bring positivity to her father’s life.

“I can bring him an energy that’s bright and sunny, no matter where I’ve been,” she shared.

Featured image credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty