Bruce Willis ended up developing frontotemporal dementia, and his wife, Emma Heming, recently explained what seemed to be the first symptoms. At the time, she didn’t for a moment think it was a sign of his terrible illness. Read on to find out more about her thoughts.
The Signs That Went Unnoticed
On NewsNation Wednesday, Elizabeth Vargas chatted with Emma about the dreadful illness that shattered movie fans. There’s been feedback a lot, and Bruce’s family sometimes shared photos or reels of him. At one stage, he didn’t seem too bad. However, it’s a progressive disease, and he’s getting worse.
Emma told Elizabeth:
I think for me what I noticed was that his stutter started to come back. Bruce had a severe stutter when he was a child that he held onto, actually, [through] his life, but was able to kind of get a handle on it, I think, in his adult years.
Next, she explained, “Then I started seeing that it [was] coming back. Never in my wildest dreams would I think that was now becoming a symptom of FTD.”
Language & Cognition
Fans who followed the sad story of Bruce Willis heard a while back that he struggled to speak and read. For an actor, of course, that seemed disastrous. Consequently, his career shut down and his world narrowed. Possibly, the last time he was seen was in September last year, but he didn’t get out of the car.
Elizabeth Vargas noted that Emma Heming Willis didn’t know as much as she does now about FTD, and she’s using her experience to help others. She explained, “Emma…made it her mission to not only shine a light on FTD to bring attention to the struggle of the 63 million people in America who are caring for loved ones.”
Regretting The Lack Of Knowledge
Additionally, Emma wrote a “New York Times best-selling book”: The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope and Yourself on the Caregiving Path, “which provides a blueprint.” Sadly, she wishes she had this knowledge back “when Bruce was diagnosed three years ago.”
Speaking about his struggles with communication, it seems that they can, in a way, still connect. Emma said, “Bruce communicates. It’s just in a different way that we have learned to adapt to.”
Now she is something of an expert in caring for people, and she wrote her book mainly because there are so many folks caring for those who have the illness. Like many people, it seems that it was her “first go-around with dementia.” In fact, she didn’t realize that people could get a “young onset dementia, let alone FTD and what that was and what that meant.”
Fans React In The Comments
Because Bruce Willis was such a popular actor, many people arrived in the comments to have their say. One of them wrote, “The burden must be a heavy one, even when it’s out of love. God bless.”
Here are a few more responses from the discussion area:
However, some people felt irritated because they noticed that Emma Heming probably hires the best caregivers money can buy.
What are your thoughts about the book and the first signs that Emma noticed? Let us know in the comments below, and come back often for all your celebrity news and updates.
