Bruce Willis‘ wife, Emma Heming Willis, is sharing a special message for her husband on Father’s Day.
Emma, who shares daughters Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11, with the actor, has been open about the process of becoming Bruce’s caregiver following the announcement of his dementia diagnosis in 2023. She’s become an advocate for caregivers and for raising awareness surrounding brain health, and she continued that message in a post on Instagram today for the holiday.
Along with what appears to be a new photo of Bruce with one of his daughters, Emma wrote, “Happy Father’s Day to all the dads living with disability or disease, showing up in the ways they can and to the children who show up for them.”
She continued, ”What Bruce teaches our girls goes far beyond words. Resilience, unconditional love, and the quiet strength in simply being present. This photo says so much. Love deepens. It adapts. It stays, even when everything else changes.”
In an effort to “be fair” to herself, Emma added that “these symbolic days stir up a lot.”
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“I’m profoundly sad today,” she admitted. “I wish, with every cell in my body, that things could be different for him and lighter for our family.”
She wrote that in the community she’s found with people affected by Bruce’s diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, one common saying is “It is what it is.”
She explained, “And while that might sound dismissive, to me, it’s not. It grounds me. It helps me return to the acceptance of what is and not fight this every step of the way like I used to.”
Emma concluded her post by urging her followers, “Today, let’s celebrate the badass dads, those who are here, and those we carry with us. Onward.”
In her Instagram story, she shared a series of old photos of Bruce with their two daughters. One picture showed him sitting with Mabel and Evelyn at a museum, with the actor wearing a pair of Ugg boots.
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“I miss and mourn what was,” Emma wrote, joking, “Even those Ugg days.”
“I want it all back.”
Bruce, who also shares daughters Rumer, 36, Scout, 33, and Tallulah, 31, with ex-wife Demi Moore, was first diagnosed with aphasia, a language disorder. His family shared the diagnosis in 2022, along with the announcement that he’d be retiring from acting.
The next year, the family revealed that his condition had “progressed” and that he’d been given the more specific diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia.
This fall, Emma will release a book about the process and what she’s learned from it, called “The Unexpected Journey.” While speaking at the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement Forum in Las Vegas last month, she spoke about the moment that inspired the book.
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“On the day Bruce got his diagnosis, we left the doctor’s office with a pamphlet and a hollow goodbye. No plan, no guidance, no hope, just shock,” she told the crowd during the forum, per People.
“The future we imagined simply vanished, and I was left trying to hold my family together, raise our two young daughters, and care for the man I love while navigating a disease I barely understood.”
“I felt lost, isolated and scared,” Emma, who was being honored for her advocacy for caregiving, said. “What I needed in that moment at that appointment wasn’t just medical information. I needed someone to look me in the eye and say, ‘This feels impossible right now, but you will find your footing. You will survive this, and you will grow because of it.'”
“The book is the roadmap I wish someone had handed me on the day in 2022,” she said. “I wrote it for other caregivers who are desperate for answers, aching for support, and wanting to be seen and wondering how they’re going to make it through.”
