Emma Heming Willis shares reaction to Bruce Willis' dementia diagnosis in new interview with Diane Sawyer
Emma Heming Willis is sharing new details about her husband Bruce Willis' diagnosis of dementia and how she and her family are coping.
In a new interview with ABC News' Diane Sawyer, Heming Willis said she remembers exactly how she felt when her husband, the star of movies such as "Die Hard" and "Pulp Fiction," was diagnosed.
"I was so panicked, and I just remember hearing it and just not hearing anything else," Heming Willis told Saywer in the interview, which will air in full during the ABC special "Emma & Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey," airing Aug. 26, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and streaming the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.
"It was like I was free-falling," she added.
In 2023, Willis' family shared he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, a type of dementia that impacts one's personality and may cause behavioral changes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Since revealing her husband's diagnoses publicly, Heming Willis has been open about the struggles of caregiving, and the support needed for family members.
Dementia -- an umbrella term for a decline in mental ability -- impacts millions of Americans and their families. According to the CDC, nearly 7 million older adults in the U.S. have Alzheimer's, the most common type of dementia.
In 2024, Heming Willis -- who shares two daughters, Mabel and Evelyn, with her husband -- announced she would author a book about caregiving, based on her personal experience.
The book, titled "The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope and Yourself on the Caregiving Path," will be released Sept. 9.
When asked by Sawyer what love is to her, Heming Willis said through her family's journey, she has felt "lucky" to have love.
"Love is beautiful. It's grand. It's unconditional. I'm so lucky to feel the love," she said.
In addition to his daughters with Heming Willis, Willis is also a father to three older daughters, Rumer, Scout and Tallulah, whom he shares with ex-wife Demi Moore.
“Emma and Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey – A Diane Sawyer Special” airs Tuesday, Aug. 26, at 8 p.m., ET, on ABC and streams the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.
The Walt Disney Co. is the parent company of ABC News, Disney+ and Hulu.
