Bruce Willis’ wife reveals subtle symptom that predicted horror dementia diagnosis
Bruce Willis’ wife has revealed the subtle yet ‘alarming’ first signs he was battling dementia.
The Die Hard actor, 70, was diagnosed in 2023 with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a form of dementia that causes a gradual decline in the areas of the brain linked to personality and language abilities.
While the star has mostly stayed out of the spotlight since his diagnosis, wife Emma Heming Willis and other family members provide occasional updates on his condition.
In an interview published this week, Heming Willis said that leading up to his diagnosis, normally vibrant and boisterous Willis ‘seemed subdued.’
She said: ‘For someone who is really talkative, very engaged, he was just a little more quiet, and when the family would get together he would kind of just melt a little bit.’
He soon began losing words, and a stutter he dealt with as a child returned.
‘[He] felt very removed, a little cold, not like Bruce, who is very warm and affectionate to going the complete opposite of that was alarming and scary,’ Heming Willis said.
FTD eats away at the parts of the brain that control language, behavior and personality. Unlike Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, patients don’t lose their memory immediately but instead undergo personality changes.
Emma Heming Willis (pictured here with husband Bruce Willis) revealed the subtle signs her husband was battling frontotemporal dementia (FTD)
Willis is pictured with ex Demi Moore on his 70th birthday earlier this year
FTD accounts for about one in 20 dementia cases, adding up to roughly 50,000 to 60,000 Americans, compared to over 6million with Alzheimer’s.
The disease also strikes much earlier, with an average age of 60, whereas most people with Alzheimer’s are at least 65.
Dr Bruce Miller, Clausen Distinguished Professor of Neurology at the University of California – San Francisco, told ABC News: ‘Imagine a marriage that has been tight and beautiful and suddenly the person that you’re living with has no empathy or concern for you or your family.’
Little is known about FTD and how to prevent it, Dr Miller said: ‘This is really the unknown disease. The research on this has really just begun.’
The Alzheimer’s Association states ‘behavioral changes are often the first noticeable symptoms’ in FTD because the disease damages the areas in the brain responsible for personality.
Alzheimer’s, however, usually causes this after the disease progresses.
Dr Miller said in most cases, ‘the patient is incredibly unaware of what is happening.’
He added: ‘I think the parts of the brain that allow us to suffer and self reflect are lost very early in frontotemporal dementia.’
Heming Willis agreed and told ABC News: ‘I don’t think Bruce ever really connected the dots.’
Commenting on photos of Willis posted earlier this year, neurologist Dr W Chris Winter previously told DailyMail.com: ‘He looks good, and it is good to see him surrounded by his family, but he is kind of frozen a little bit.’
He added: ‘I had a family member with this condition, and all the pictures that we took with him he too was looking off to the side.
‘He wasn’t engaged in the photo-taking process, so he was just a little bit more disconnected.’
Willis is pictured in 2019, four years before his FTD diagnosis
Willis is pictured with family on his 70th birthday earlier this year. His wife said while is still ‘mobile,’ his language abilities have suffered
Over time, more and more areas of the brain deteriorate in FTD patients, causing symptoms to mirror those of late-stage Alzheimer’s, including difficulty eating or swallowing, having trouble walking, and being vulnerable to infections due to the blood-brain barrier weakening.
Dr Keith Vossel, a neurologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, previously told DailyMail.com FTD patients tend to need full-time care within three to five years of diagnosis.
The disease is not fatal on its own, but causes other issues that are serious or life-threatening. These include problems swallowing, or dysphagia.
Problems with eating and drinking also raise the risk of developing pneumonia or respiratory failure.
There is no cure for the disease, but some drugs and therapies may be prescribed that can help to ease symptoms by boosting chemicals like dopamine in the brain.
As of now, Heming Willis said her husband ‘is still really mobile.’
She added: ‘Bruce is in really great health overall. It’s just his brain that is failing him.
‘The language is going. We’ve learned to adapt and we have a way of communicating with him, it’s just a different way.’
Heming Willis said there will still be moments where Bruce laughs as he used to and his family can see the ‘twinkle in his eye.’
‘I just get transported, and it’s just hard to see that because as quickly as those moments appear, then it goes. It’s hard, but I’m grateful that my husband is still very much here,’ she said.
