Bruce Willis’ Wife Emma Shares Heartbreaking Details About the Actor’s Declining Health and the Challenges of Caring for Him at Their $9.8 Million California Home

Bruce Willis‘ wife, Emma Heming, has revealed that the Hollywood heavyweight’s brain is “failing” him as she candidly lifted the lid on the “scary” symptoms she witnesses while caring for him at their Los Angeles home.

Heming sat down with ABC’s Diane Sawyer to speak about the actor’s difficult health journey in an interview that will air Tuesday night.

In the preview for the chat, Heming, 47, choked back tears as she opened up about her husband’s current health status.

Heming revealed that Willis, 70, who had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in 2023, is thankfully still in “great health.” However, his ability to communicate is diminishing.

“Bruce is still very mobile. Bruce is in really great health overall, you know. It’s just his brain that is failing him,” Heming said in the sit-down special titled, “Emma & Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey.”

The 47-year-old—who tied the knot to the actor in 2009 and shares children Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11, with him—revealed that Willis’ language is “going” and that their family has learned to speak with him in a “different way.”

“We still get those days. Not days, but we get moments,” Heming said when Sawyer, 79, asked if there were “days that it would be Bruce again.”

“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,” Heming added.

Heming fought back her emotions as she noted that the journey has been difficult on the entire family.

“And it’s just hard to see, because as quickly as those moments appear, then it goes. It’s hard. But I’m grateful. I’m grateful that my husband is still very much here,” she explained.

The model then reflected on the devastating moment doctors told the actor about his diagnosis, revealing, “To leave there with nothing, just nothing, with a diagnosis I couldn’t pronounce, I couldn’t understand what it was.

“I was so panicked. I remember hearing it and not hearing anything else. I was free falling.”

Heming noted that she doesn’t believe her Willis—who retired from acting in 2022 after being diagnosed with aphasia—will ever be able to “really connect the dots” to comprehend his diagnosis.

Heming also took viewers back to the days leading up to Willis’ diagnosis, telling Sawyer that the actor suffered through a slew of subtle symptoms.

“For someone who was very talkative and very engaged, he was just a little more quiet. When the family would get together, he would just melt a little bit.

“It felt a little removed, very cold, not like Bruce, who was very warm and affectionate. To go the complete opposite of that was alarming and scary,” she revealed.

In March 2022, the Willis family announced the heartbreaking news of the actor’s aphasia diagnosis, which is a disorder that affects a person’s ability to communicate—prompting him to retire from acting.

His final movie, “Assassin,” was released in 2023, the same year that the family revealed that Bruce had also been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.

The condition, which is incurable, is categorized as a “progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, impacting personality, behavior, language, and movement,” according to the Mayo Clinic.

In the years since, Willis has rarely been seen in public, instead spending much of his time at home with Emma, his children, and his ex, Demi Moore, who is said to have offered rock-solid support to the actor in the wake of his diagnosis.

Willis and Moore wed in 1987 and separated in 2000. The former couple also share children Tallulah, 31, Scout, 33, and Rumer, 36.

Although Moore and Willis called it quits nearly three decades ago, they have stayed close over the years, regularly spending time together with their wider families.

Willis and Moore once even resided close to each other, with the actor snapping up several Idaho properties after his ex.

Moore resides in a six-bedroom, eight-bathroom home, which sits on 10.5 acres. It’s where she spent much of the COVID-19 pandemic, surrounded by her loved ones—and it continues to be the place where she and her family gather for holidays and special occasions.

Moore purchased the property in 2000 following her split from Willis.

She has previously shared rare glimpses of her comfort property, revealing on her Instagram that the home boasts a country aesthetic and has wood panels.

Willis followed in his ex-wife’s footsteps many years ago when he purchased multiple Idaho properties, including a ranch in Hailey and cabins in Ketchum.

In 2012, he sold the cabins for $3.9 million and let go of his ranch for $5.5 million in 2018.

Now, he lives in a $9.8 million Los Angeles mansion with Heming and their two daughters.

The home features a private gym and an open floor plan, and it is believed to be the same spot where Heming is taking care of Willis and their children amid his difficult health journey.

The update on his declining health comes two months after Willis was pictured spending time with his family members while enjoying a “Sunday funday” at the home of his daughter Tallulah’s grandmother.

Tallulah took to Instagram on June 22 to share a heartwarming update with her father’s fans, revealing candid snaps of the “Die Hard” star relaxing with his loved ones, including her fiancé, Justin Acee.

In one particularly poignant snap, Tallulah could be seen embracing the 70-year-old actor, while another image featured her sitting cross-legged on the floor while holding her father’s hand and laughing at something he was saying.

Although it’s not clear which “Grams” Tallulah was referring to in her post, both her maternal and her paternal grandmothers have passed away, suggesting that they may have been visiting Acee’s mother or another close family member.