Bruce Willis’ Daughter On Dad’s Condition: ‘I See Love’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Bruce Willis’ daughter Tallulah is opening up about her relationship with her dad as he continues to battle frontotemporal dementia.
“He is the same, which I think in this regard I’ve learned is the best thing you can ask for,” she shared. “I see love when I’m with him, and it’s my dad and he loves me, which is really special.”
Tallulah also explained why she and her family have been so open about her father’s diagnosis.
“Well, I think it’s twofold. On one hand, it’s who we are as a family, but also, it’s really important for us to spread awareness,” she said, adding, “If we can take something that we’re struggling with as a family to help other people, to turn it around to make something beautiful about it, that’s really special for us.”
The actor’s family shared his diagnosis earlier this year in a joint statement, saying, “Today there are no treatments for the disease, a reality that we hope can change in the years ahead. As Bruce’s condition advances, we hope that any media attention can be focused on shining a light on this disease that needs far more awareness and research.”
Willis’ wife, Emma Heming Willis, recently talked about what life has been like since his diagnosis changed from aphasia to frontotemporal dementia.
“Dementia is hard,” she said during an appearance on the TODAY show. “It’s hard on the person diagnosed, it’s also hard on the family. And that is no different for Bruce, or myself, or our girls. When they say this is a family disease, it really is.”
Heming Willis added that accepting the diagnosis has been “painful,” but “just being in the know of what is happening to Bruce makes it a little easier.”
Movieguide® previously reported on Willis’ condition:
Bruce Willis is now largely “incommunicative” as his frontotemporal dementia progresses, according to a friend.
“My sense is the first one to three minutes he knows who I am,” MOONLIGHTING creator Glenn Gordon Caron said of the actor. “He’s not totally verbal; he used to be a voracious reader—he didn’t want anyone to know that—and he’s not reading now. All those language skills are no longer available to him, and yet he’s still Bruce.”
Caron shared that he has “tried very hard to stay in [Willis’] life” and visits the actor on a monthly basis.
“He’s an extraordinary person,” he continued. “The thing that makes [his disease] so mind-blowing is [that] if you’ve ever spent time with Bruce Willis, there is no one who had any more joie de vivre than he. He loved life and…just adored waking up every morning and trying to live life to its fullest. So the idea that he now sees life through a screen door, if you will, makes very little sense. He’s really an amazing guy.”
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