Bruce Willis health update: Emma Heming caring for husband during holiday season, ‘...tangled in a web of grief’

BRuce thomas thomas willis’ married woman, Emma john heming Willis, wrote an emotional essay titled ‘The Holidays seem Different Now,’ where she opened up about caring for her husband over Christmas. Bruce stepped away from his career in 2022 after a family announcement that he was battling aphasia, which is a language disorder that affects communication.The family announced nearly a year later that the condition had evolved into frontotemporal dementia, a neurodegenerative disease that gradually impairs behavior, language, and personality.“The holidays have a way of holding up a mirror, reflecting who we’ve been, who we are, and what we imagined they would be,” Emma wrote in an article for her website.Emma and Bruce share daughters Mabel Ray, 13, and Evelyn, 11. She explained that the festive season can stir up complex emotions.Read More | Bruce Willis’ wife Emma Heming reveals how dementia changed him as a person, ‘For someone who is very talkative…’“When you’re caring for someone with dementia, that reflection can feel especially poignant,” Emma wrote. “Traditions that once felt somewhat effortless require planning- lots of planning. Moments that once brought uncomplicated joy may arrive tangled in a web of grief.”Emma added that despite the hardships, there can still be “warmth” and “joy” in the holiday season. “I’ve learned that the holidays don’t disappear when dementia enters your life,” she said. “They change.”Opening up about grief, Emma wrote, “Grief doesn’t only belong to death.”“It belongs to change and the ambiguous loss caregivers know so well. It belongs to the realization that things won’t unfold the way they once did,” she added. “It belongs to the absence of routines, conversations, or roles that were once so familiar you never imagined them ending.”Read More | Bruce Willis' daughter Rumer gives heartbreaking update on his health: ‘The truth is…’Emma talked about the memories of past Christmas, revealing that they were very important to her husband. “For me, the holidays carry memories of Bruce being at the center of it all. He loved this time of year- the energy, family time, the traditions,” she said.Emma added, “He was the pancake-maker, the get-out-in-the-snow-with-the-kids guy, the steady presence moving through the house as the day unfolded. There was comfort in the routine of knowing exactly how the day would go, especially since I’m a creature of habit. Dementia doesn’t erase those memories. But it does create space between then and now. And that space can ache.”Emma and Bruce Willis’ daughters feeling a profound sense of lossEmma previously said that over four years after her husband’s frontotemporal dementia (FTD) diagnosis, their daughters are already feeling a profound sense of loss and the illness has worsened, according to Marca. In an interview with Vogue Australia in October, Emma said that their daughters, Mabel and Evelyn, "are doing well, all things considered," they also "grieve" their father's progressive decline."I think they're doing well," Emma said. "They grieve. They miss their dad so much. He's missing important milestones, that's tough for them."