Bruce Willis‘ wife Emma Heming insisted she is being ‘judged quickly and unfairly’ for the way she has been caring for him amid his dementia decline.
She recently revealed that the ‘hardest decision’ she took while looking after him was moving him into a separate one-story house away from their primary residence.
He lives there with a full-time care team, while Emma brings their daughters Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11, to visit him ‘a lot,’ including for breakfast and dinner.
‘Bruce would want that for our daughters,’ said Emma. ‘He would want them to be in a home that was more tailored to their needs, not his needs.’
The couple made the revelation during a joint ABC special with Diane Sawyer entitled Emma and Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey.
Now Emma, 47, said she has received criticism from viewers over the choices she has made while helping Bruce, 70, cope with his illness.
Bruce Willis’ wife Emma Heming insisted she is being ‘judged quickly and unfairly’ for the way she has been caring for him amid his dementia decline; Bruce and Emma pictured in 2018
‘Too often, caregivers are judged quickly and unfairly by those who haven’t lived this journey or stood on the front lines of it,’ she wrote Friday on Instagram.
‘Sharing openly may invite opinions, but more importantly, it creates connection and validation for those actually navigating the realities of caregiving every day.’
Emma concluded: ‘That’s who I share for and so I can build a deeper connection with a community that understands this journey.’
Bruce’s illness, frontotemporal dementia (FTD) does not cause memory loss at first, but rather attacks the parts of the brain in charge of language and personality.
In her new Instagram post, Emma said that the Diane Sawyer special ‘did a beautiful job with amplifying FTD awareness, as well as shining a spotlight onto caregivers.’
The British-American model added: ‘What I knew is that by sharing some of our intimate information that we would see these two camps, right? It would be people with an opinion versus people with an actual experience.’
She noted that what she had observed in ‘the comment section’ was ‘people with an opinion and how quick they are to judge the caregiver, and that is what caregivers are up against, you know – judgment from others and criticism from others.’
Emma then read a passage from her memoir The Unexpected Journey about Bruce’s dementia, which will hit the shelves September 9.
Now Emma, 47, said she has received criticism from viewers over the choices she has made while helping Bruce, 70, cope with his illness
She recently revealed that the ‘hardest decision’ she took while looking after him was moving him into a separate one-story house away from their primary residence
He lives there with a full-time care team, while Emma brings their daughters Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11, to visit him ‘a lot,’ including for breakfast and dinner
In the book, she remembers that a therapist once advised her: ‘Nothing changes an opinion quite as powerfully as when you have an experience. Even if someone is closely familiar with dementia or the condition you are caring for, they aren’t in your home, so they don’t know how your person is behaving or your family dynamics.
‘The truth is that the opinions are so loud and they’re so noisy. But if they don’t have the experience of this, they don’t get a say, and they definitely don’t get a vote.’
In response to Emma’s video, Bruce’s daughter Tallulah, 31, whom he shares with his first wife Demi Moore, leapt into the comments section and gushed: ‘I love you so much. We love you so much. Thank you for all you do for us and our family.’
Bruce withdrew from Hollywood in 2022 after being diagnosed with the brain condition aphasia, which causes the patient’s language abilities to deteriorate.
In 2023, his family announced that his illness had ‘progressed’ and he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD).
Bruce has been surrounded by his close-knit blended family, who have rallied around him in order to help him cope with his health struggles.
During the Diane Sawyer special, Emma explained: ‘Bruce is still very mobile. Bruce is in really great health overall, you know. It’s just his brain that is failing him.’
She added: ‘We have a way of communicating with him that is just a different, a different way, but I’m grateful. I’m grateful that my husband is still very much here.’
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