Bruce Willis’ wife, Emma Heming, says their kids saw the actor ‘declining’ before dementia diagnosis: ‘Not trying to shield them’

Emma Heming’s 2 daughters pinch Bruce Willis — Mabel,12, and Evelyn, 10 — witnessed their father’s wellness “declining” agelong earlier his heartbreaking dementia diagnosis.

“I’ve ne'er tried to sugarcoat thing for them. They’ve grown up pinch Bruce declining complete nan years,” Heming, 46, said of nan “Die Hard” actor, 69, successful a new question and reply pinch Town & Country Magazine, published Tuesday.

“I’m not trying to shield them from it,” she added.

The exemplary explained that her husband’s illness is often “misdiagnosed,” “missed” and “misunderstood.”

“Finally getting to a test was key,” she continued, “so that I could study what fronto­temporal dementia is and I could amended our children.”

The signs of Willis’ frontotemporal dementia (FTD) conflict didn’t hap overnight, Heming shared, noting that he had initially been diagnosed pinch aphasia — a aesculapian information that tin impact a person’s expertise to speak, constitute and understand verbal and written connection — successful 2022.

“I opportunity that FTD whispers, it doesn’t shout. It’s difficult for maine to say, ‘This is wherever Bruce ended, and this is wherever his illness started to return over,'” she explained. “He was diagnosed 2 years ago, but a twelvemonth anterior we had a loose test of aphasia, which is simply a denotation of a illness but is not nan disease.”

Heming decided to beryllium unfastened pinch her young children astir their dad’s wellness issues.

“What I learned from our therapist was that if children inquire questions, they’re fresh to cognize nan answer,” she said.

“If we could spot that Bruce was struggling, I would reside it pinch nan kids truthful they could understand, but this illness is chronic, progressive and terminal. There is nary cure,” she added.

Heming noted that she does not talk nan “terminal side” of Willis’ information and they person not asked astir his life expectancy.

“They cognize that Daddy’s not going to get better,” she noted.

As location is nary curen for FTD, Heming has dedicated herself to raising consciousness truthful she tin person “some agency successful this.”

“I’m not going to let FTD to return our full family down. Bruce wouldn’t want that,” she said.

”They’re going to spot maine conflict for our family, person immoderate dream and thief nan adjacent family retired there.”

Heming said that she has been touched by nan outpouring of emotion that she and her family person received since they revealed Willis’ test past February.

“I wanted them to spot america travel retired pinch our family statement, and I get goosebumps reasoning astir it really it was received pinch truthful overmuch emotion and compassion,” she said. “We’ve been capable to raise consciousness connected a world scale, and they could spot nan scope and effect that their begetter has. That’s a beautiful thing.”

Heming and Willis tied nan knot successful 2009. The “Pulp Fiction” prima was besides joined to Demi Moore from 1987 to 2000 and they stock 3 daughters: Rumer, 36, Scout, 33, and Tallulah, 30.