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By India McCarty
Emma Heming Willis continues to shine a light on the struggles of caregivers as she takes care of husband Bruce Willis.
“Walking out of [the doctor’s office] with nothing was really hard,” she recalled of getting his diagnosis in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais. “And then realizing that, ‘Okay, I have to figure this out. I have to understand what support now is needed for Bruce, for our two young children.’”
The couple share daughters Mabel, 14, and Evelyn, 12.
“And you know what the internet is like; when you look up any kind of illness, it’s a horrible place to go, and leaving that appointment, I just realized how unsupported caregivers are,” Heming Willis continued. “We walk out with no support, and we’re asked to do so much where it’s not humane.”
She has been open about her husband’s diagnosis, especially when it came to talking about it with her daughters.
“I think that our family knew that by showing what we were going through with Bruce and this disease, we would see a change in how people look at dementia [and] talk about it,” Heming Willis shared. “I wanted our two young children not to have to think that they have to talk about their dad’s disease in a hushed home like this was some dark family secret.”
Related: Emma Heming Willis Spotlights Caregivers After Gene Hackman, Wife’s Deaths
She continued, “Bruce is so beloved and he has such a global reach. And I knew that this announcement could hopefully change what people perceive dementia to be. So I was really happy that we were able to get the support that our family needed. I am happy that we were able to share and make this conversation normalized.”
The DIE HARD actor was diagnosed with aphasia in 2022. The following year, his condition was upgraded to frontotemporal dementia.
Heming Willis has shared the day-to-day struggles of being a caregiver with the world, hoping to provide support for fellow caregivers.
“We need to move away from this idea that caregiving is a solo mission,” she said during an episode of “The Bossticks” podcast, encouraging people to rely on the support of their friends and family.
In an interview with Eating Well, Heming Willis elaborated on the topic, saying, “What I realized is that caregiving isn’t a solo mission and that we need to be able to bring in help and support. We need to know that it’s OK to ask for help and that we’re not failures because we need it. We need to change the narrative that this is just a one-person thing. Dementia is very hard. It is 24/7, there are no breaks, there’s no time off — and the caregiver needs support to be able to care for their person as well as themselves.”
Heming Willis’ willingness to share the struggles of being a caregiver has helped and encouraged people around the world who are going through the same thing.
Read Next: Bruce Willis’ Family Opens Up About His Dementia Battle
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