It’s impossible to imagine what the family of Bruce Willis has been going through amid his battle with frontotemporal dementia.
Recently, Emma Heming Willis, the actor’s wife of more than 15 years, revealed that her husband’s disease had progressed to the point that he needed to move into a second home where he could be better cared for.
But as difficult of a decision that was for the 47-year-old to make, even harder was breaking the news to the couple’s two children, Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11. (Bruce also shares three adult daughters, Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah with ex-wife Demi Moore.)
In her new book, The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Caregiving Path, Emma recalled having that painful conversation with her kids.
“‘We’ve come to a point in Daddy’s disease where the care he requires is changing. It has to be more tailored to his every need,’ I told them,” Emma writes, via Too Fab. “‘And you should be in a home that is more tailored to your needs now. Also, Daddy would want you to have playdates, sleepovers, and more freedom than you’ve been able to have here. That would make him so happy.’”
To ease her girls into the transition, Emma emphasized that it would be their “second home” filled with their “toys, arts and crafts supplies, bathing suits, pjs, and games,” and that they could go stay with him whenever they wanted.
“Even though they’d lived with his disease for so long that they understood, and even though this decision ensures Bruce’s overall well-being and safety and allows our young children to thrive, it was an uncertain and painful time for us,” she continued. “In fact, it’s still painful for me. After all, this is my husband, and having him in another home was not part of the future we’d mapped out together. You really can’t dream this stuff up.”
Emma first revealed that Bruce had been moved into a second home last month during a television special with Diane Sawyer, Emma and Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey.
At the time, she lamented the toll living with someone battling a cognitive disease had taken on herself and her daughters. In addition to fears about the stove and refrigerator, she said that people living with FTD can become agitated by noise. As such, her daughters weren’t able to have friends over to the house.
“I didn’t know if parents would feel comfortable leaving their child at our home,” she said at the time. “So again, not only was I isolated, I isolated our whole family. The girls were isolated too, and that was by design I was doing that. It was a hard time.”
Emma didn’t explore other options until Bruce’s daughter Scout expressed that she was becoming concerned about her wellbeing.
“I’ll never forget when Scout said that to me, and I thought, ‘Wow, okay, I am losing it. I need to really get myself together,’” she added.
