Bruce Willis’ Family Tragically Dismissed His Dementia Symptoms At First For One Surprising Reason

In 2022, the family of Bruce Willis revealed that the Hollywood star Bruce Willis of Die Hard and The Sixth Sense fame had been diagnosed with aphasia, which is a disorder that affects how a person communicates. The next year, they admitted that his specific diagnosis was actually frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

Since then, we’ve been learning how Willis, his family, and his loved ones are dealing with the disease. And it didn’t go smoothly at first.

Bruce’s Family Dismissed His Early Dementia Symptoms

Now, Bruce’s family is revealing that the 69 year-old star’s early dementia symptoms were dismissed because he had struggled with stuttering as a child. When Bruce began having issues communicating, they assumed this stutter was returning.

Emma Heming Willis, who has been married to Bruce since 2009, recalled that her husband’s dementia battle “started with language.”

“He had a severe stutter as a child,” Emma, 46, told Town & Country.

In fact, it was acting classes that helped Bruce overcome his stutter and ultimately achieve Hollywood success.

“He went to college, and there was a theater teacher who said, ‘I’ve got something that’s going to help you,’” Emma recounted. “From that class, Bruce realized that he could memorize a script and be able to say it without stuttering. That’s what propelled him into acting.”

Bruce always slightly struggled with his stutter, which naturally made his early dementia symptoms harder to spot.

“Bruce has always had a stutter, but he has been good at covering it up,” Emma continued.“For Bruce, it started in his temporal lobes and then has spread to the frontal part of his brain. It attacks and destroys a person’s ability to walk, think, make decisions.”

“As his language started changing, it [seemed like it] was just a part of a stutter, it was just Bruce,” she explained. “Never in a million years would I think it would be a form of dementia for someone so young.”

Related: Demi Moore Opens Up About Ex-Husband Bruce Willis’ Dementia Battle – ‘It’s A Losing Game’

Bruce And Emma’s Young Daughters

Bruce and Emma are parents to daughters Mabel, 12, and Evelyn, 10. Emma has been forced to have conversations with the girls about their father’s diagnosis that are both vulnerable and difficult.

“Finally getting to a diagnosis was key so that I could learn what fronto­temporal dementia is and I could educate our children,” Emma stated.

When Emma sat down with Mabel and Emma to explain Bruce’s dementia diagnosis, they each said that they had already noticed signs.

“I’ve never tried to sugarcoat anything for them,” Emma admitted. “They’ve grown up with Bruce declining over the years. I’m not trying to shield them from it.”

Emma went on to say that she’s found that honesty has been the best strategy for her when it comes to helping their daughters handle Bruce’s dementia diagnosis.

Related: Bruce Willis’ Family Celebrates His 69th Birthday After His Dementia Diagnosis – ‘So Much Has Changed’

Emma Reveals How She’s Doing Herself

Emma was eventually asked how she is doing herself. She replied by saying she’s “much better than I was when we first received the FTD diagnosis.”

“We had so many plans, so many beautiful things we wanted to do with our girls, so many things that we wanted to experience together,” she lamented. “You just rip that page out completely, and then how do you rewrite the story? I’m learning how to take some control back. It might not be the most beautiful story I could have thought of, but there are cracks of light.”

This has clearly been a very difficult time for Bruce and his entire family. Please join us in saying a prayer for them!