Bruce Willis' Wife Emma Heming Willis Gives Emotional Update On His FTD Battle

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00:00 How was it to come to terms with this diagnosis for you?

00:05 - I think it was the blessing and the curse.

00:08 - Emma Hemming Willis is giving an update

00:10 on her husband, Bruce Willis.

00:12 During an emotional interview on the Today Show,

00:15 Emma joined Hoda Kopi alongside Susan Dickinson,

00:18 who is the CEO of the Association

00:21 for Front Temporal Degeneration,

00:23 to raise awareness on World Front Temporal

00:25 Dementia Awareness Week.

00:27 - You know, what I'm learning is that dementia

00:29 is hard, it's hard on the person diagnosed,

00:32 it's also hard on the family,

00:34 and that is no different for Bruce or myself or our girls.

00:38 And when they say that this is a family disease,

00:42 it really is.

00:44 - Bruce was diagnosed with front temporal dementia

00:47 earlier this year.

00:48 Susan then went on to explain how FDT

00:50 is different from Alzheimer's disease

00:53 and how people present with FTD.

00:56 - What we're really talking about, Hoda,

00:57 is unexplained changes in how a person is in the world.

01:02 So somebody who normally speaks absolutely fine

01:06 has trouble putting their thoughts

01:08 into meaningful sentences,

01:09 or they may lose the meaning of a specific word.

01:13 We're talking about maybe a person

01:15 who always managed the family's finances,

01:17 all of a sudden has trouble balancing a checkbook,

01:21 or has problems at work.

01:22 Somebody who always performed well

01:24 is either making poor decisions

01:27 or just isn't completing tasks.

01:29 - Emma noted that it's quote,

01:30 "Hard to know if the 68-year-old

01:32 is fully aware of his diagnosis."

01:35 But the Make Time Wellness founder,

01:36 who called herself Bruce's quote, "Care partner,"

01:39 shared how their family continues to celebrate joy

01:42 in their lives amid his diagnosis.

01:45 - So many beautiful things happening in our lives.

01:48 It's just really important for me to look up

01:52 from the grief and the sadness

01:54 so that I can see what is happening around us.

01:58 And Bruce would really want us to be in the joy of what is.

02:03 He would really want that for me and our family.

02:07 - The 45-year-old concluded the interview

02:08 by explaining how her husband is quote,

02:10 "The gift that keeps on giving,

02:12 especially when it comes to their two daughters,

02:14 Mabel and Evelyn."

02:16 - I mean, honestly, he is the gift that keeps on giving.

02:18 Love, patience, resilience.

02:24 So much.

02:25 And he's teaching me and our whole,

02:28 I mean, for me to be out here doing this,

02:31 this is not my comfort zone,

02:32 but like this is the power of Bruce.

02:35 - I've heard from people who have an ailing family member,

02:39 and I remember this from a friend of mine.

02:40 She said, "My husband's diagnosis

02:43 made my kids better people, just better people."

02:46 Is that what you're noticing with yours?

02:47 - That is what I'm noticing.

02:49 I'm noticing that, listen,

02:50 I think my kids would be great no matter what,

02:52 and this is not what I would want for them,

02:54 but really, like I said, it's teaching them so much

02:58 and how to care and love.

03:00 And it's really, it's a beautiful thing amongst the sadness.

03:05 (upbeat music)

03:10 (upbeat music)

03:14 (upbeat music)

03:16 (upbeat music)

03:19 (upbeat music)

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