Demi Moore has opened up about Bruce Willis' 'difficult' personality change following his dementia diagnosis.
The Die Hard star, 70, announced his retirement from acting in 2022 after his aphasia diagnosis, 'a condition that makes it difficult to communicate. It can make it hard to speak, read, write and understand others,' according to the NHS.
Willis' current wife, Emma Heming, has been looking after him and is set to release a book about caregiving, called The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope and Yourself on the Caregiving Path.
“For me knowledge is power, and building a supportive community around me has been vital,” the 45-year-old said in a statement to People.
Advert
"It has brought stability and a certain amount of control back, control that was completely shattered when the diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia first came into our family’s world."
Now, in between Heming's recent appearance on the Oprah podcast, the host shared a pre-recorded interview clip of Willis' ex-wife, Moore, 62.
She shares daughters Rumer, 37, Scout, 34, and Tallulah, 31, with the actor.
"It’s difficult. It’s hard to see somebody who was so vibrant and strong and so directed shift into this other parts of themself," the Charlie’s Angels star admitted.
"But you know, my particular perspective is one, I really always say it’s so important just to meet them where they’re at.
"Don’t have an expectation of them needing to be who they were or who you want them to be, and when you do that, I find that there is an incredible sweetness and something that’s soft and tender and loving.
"And perhaps it is more playful and childlike in certain sense, because of how much more caretaking they need."
She said how 'showing up and being present' is the 'most important' thing because 'there’s still so much of him there'.
Moore acknowledges that, although 'it may not always be verbal, it is beautiful given the givens'.
It comes after Heming said the family has made the decision to put Willis in a separate home to her and their daughters Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11, because he 'would want that'.
"He would want them to be in a home that was more tailored to their needs, not his needs," she said during ABC's Emma and Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey – A Diane Sawyer Special.
"Bruce is in really great health, overall, it’s just his brain that is failing him."
Heming noted that the father still has breakfast and dinner with the children in his home, alongside a full-time care team.
Willis and Heming have been married since March 2009.
Topics: Bruce Willis, Celebrity, Health, Sex and Relationships, Parenting
Anish Vij