By Gavin Boyle
Remembering that their father has frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a lot to ask for children under the age of 12, but Bruce Willis’ wife and daughters came up with a creative acronym to help them remember the disease.
“Fantastic Turtles Dancing in Bruce’s Head,” Emma Heming Willis said, revealing the acronym. “The girls put that acronym together so that we could remember the way the letters go.”
While Willis’ youngest daughters Mabel and Evelyn are now old enough to remember on their own, they were 10 and 8 years old, respectively, when their father was first diagnosed with the disease. Despite being so young, Heming Willis did not shy away from sharing the reality of their father’s condition with her kids when he was first diagnosed with the disease.
Related: Bruce Willis’ Daughter Reflects on Dad’s Dementia in Sweet Father’s Day Post
“I’ve never tried to sugarcoat anything for them. They’ve grown up with Bruce declining over the years. I’m not trying to shield them from it,” Heming Willis said last October. “If we could see that Bruce was struggling, I would address it with the kids so they could understand, but this disease is chronic, progressive and terminal. There is no cure. Obviously, I don’t like to speak about the terminal side of this with them, nor have they asked. [But] they know that daddy’s not going to get better.”
Even as the disease progresses, though, Willis’ family continues to see sparks of life in him as the old Bruce returns, even if just for a moment.
“He is the same, which I think in this regard I’ve learned is the best thing you can ask for,” Willis’ daughter Tallulah said in 2023. “I see love when I’m with him, and it’s my dad and he loves me, which is really special.”
“It’s his laugh, right? He has such a hearty laugh. And sometimes you’ll see that twinkle in his eye, or that smirk. I just get transported,” Heming Willis added in August of 2025. “And it’s just hard to see, because as quickly as those moments appear, then it goes.”
Even with these moments, caring for Willis has been extremely challenging for Heming Willis, something she has not shied away from discussing when talking about the disease in public. In fact, she has turned it into an opportunity to shine a light on all caregivers who do not receive the credit they deserve.
While the silly pneumonic device Willis’ kids used to remember his disease was helpful, it does not take away from the fact that his children are facing an extremely difficult situation as they grow up with a father whose health continues to decline.
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