Emma Heming, wife of Bruce Willis, recently shared the emotional challenges she faced regarding her decision to relocate the actor as he deals with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a condition that impacts his cognitive abilities.

As an author, Emma, 47, has emerged as a leading advocate for dementia awareness following the announcement of Willis’s FTD diagnosis in 2023. The 70-year-old Die Hard icon’s condition affects communication and behavior, leading to a gradual decline in mental faculties.

During an August ABC special, Emma disclosed that Bruce now resides in a nearby single-story home, separate from their main house. This arrangement allows him to receive round-the-clock care from a dedicated team.

Emma explained that although it was an extremely difficult decision, it was necessary for the family’s well-being. This setup ensures Bruce’s comprehensive care while maintaining a stable environment for their daughters, Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11.

Despite receiving overwhelming support from fans, Emma has also encountered criticism online for her choice.

At the End Well 2025 conference last month, Emma, alongside actress Yvette Nicole Brown, struggled with tears as she spoke about the harsh judgment faced by caregivers like her.

Bruce Willis ‘ wife Emma Heming was overwhelmed with emotion as she detailed the judgement she’d received over her decision to move the actor out of their family home as he battles frontotemporal dementia (FTD)

Emma, 47, revealed the actor, 70, had moved into a separate one-story house down the street from their primary residence where he is supported by a full-time team of carers 24/7 

She explained that despite it being the ‘hardest decision’, it had been the right call for their family, as it ensured Bruce’s needs are met around the clock, while also protecting the wellbeing of their two daughters, Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11 (pictured)

Getting teary-eyed, she stressed how ‘impossible’ the decision to move Bruce – who she married in 2009 – to a second home had been, candidly admitting: ‘This is not how I envisioned our life’.

But, she reiterated it had been the safest and best choice that met the needs of both Bruce and their young children, declaring their family is ‘now thriving’.

While she insisted that those who weren’t on ‘the frontlines don’t a say or a vote’ on Bruce’s care, with their ‘beautiful blended family’ only ever being ‘loving and supportive’.

‘These are hard decisions. These are impossible – I’m getting choked up thinking about it. They’re impossible decisions. This is not how I envisioned our life,’ she explained.

‘So I had to make the best and safest decision for our family and and I knew by being honest and open about it that it would be met with a lot of judgement.

‘And what’s interesting about it is that the judgement comes from the outside, it doesn’t come from our family.

‘Because they know, they’re in it and I’ve got this beautiful blended family, but I also have Bruce’s mother who is in her 90s. I have Bruce’s brother and sister and cousins and they have been so loving and supportive and nonjudgmental.

‘I knew that when I revealed or talked about what is our arrangement, that it would be met with so much criticism and judgement and I did a lot of therapy around that to like get myself ready.

In a panel with fellow actress, Yvette Nicole Brown, at the End Well 2025 conference last month, Emma struggled to hold back her tears as she reflected on unfair judgment that she and other caregivers have faced

Getting teary-eyed, she stressed how ‘impossible’ the decision to move Bruce – who she married in 2009 – to a second home had been, candidly admitting: ‘This is not how I envisioned our life’ 

‘It was interesting to see how much judgement and criticism, about how what a terrible person I am and how could I do this. But you know what I say is that if you are not on the front lines of this, in that person’s house day in, day out, 24/7, 365 days a year – then you don’t get a say and you don’t get a vote.’

She went on to explain thanks to Bruce’s move out of the family home, ‘the world is completed opened up’ for both him and the girls.

She said: ‘This is the best decision for our family. It was the safest one and our family is now in essence thriving. 

‘People don’t realise all the needs that go unmet behind closed doors and now our children’s needs are met. 

‘They are in a home where they can have play dates and sleepovers, these things that we don’t even think about. Their world is completely opened up and so has my husband’s. 

‘So it’s the right thing for our family and it might not be the right thing for anybody else, but that’s OK. We’re all on our own journey, we all have our own care plans and you might have a care plan that might actually change and and that is okay.

‘Dementia is messy. Caregiving is messy and you’ve got to go with the waves of it.’

While Emma said she’d anticipated being hit by backlash, she feels a ‘weight has been lifted’ since speaking out and hoped her transparency would relieve other caregivers of the shame she has felt herself. 

While she insisted that those who weren’t on ‘the frontlines don’t a say or a vote’ on Bruce’s care, with their ‘beautiful blended family’ only ever being ‘loving and supportive’ ( L-R Rumer Willis, Demi Moore, Bruce, Scout Willis, Emma and Tallulah Willis in 2019)

While Emma said she’d anticipated being hit by backlash, she feels a ‘weight has been lifted’ since speaking out and hoped her transparency would relieve other caregivers of the shame she has felt herself

She said: ‘Everything that people said I had already said it to myself. As a caregiver we are constantly judging and criticising ourselves, wee think terrible things about ourselves. So it wasn’t so hurtful because I’m like, ‘There’s really nothing you could say that I haven’t already said’ and I knew what was coming. It is it is what it is.

‘But I think it was important to share because my hope is that someone else who has to make the same decisions feels seen and validated. 

‘Because I know there’s so many people that have to make these hard decisions that receive so much criticism and judgement it’s kind of par for the course, unfortunately. 

‘But I just wanted to be open and transparent about it and I’m so happy that I’ve been able to. It’s like it’s like a weight it’s been lifted again be able to share and connect with other people who get it and understand it.’

Emma has described how she brings Mabel and Evelyn to visit Bruce ‘a lot,’ including for breakfast and dinner, and that the family continues to find ways to spend meaningful time together.

In their joint special with Diane Sawyer, she said: ‘Bruce would want that for our daughters. He would want them to be in a home that was more tailored to their needs, not his needs.

‘When we go over, either we’re outside, or we’re watching a movie… it’s just really about being able to be there, and connect with Bruce. It is a house that is filled with love, and warmth, and care, and laughter.’

As well improving life for the girls, Emma previously explained how Bruce’s move to a second residence has also enriched the lives of her and Bruce, as it’s allowed her to go back to just being his wife and enabled him to have more independence.

Emma has described how she brings Mabel and Evelyn to visit Bruce ‘a lot,’ including for breakfast and dinner, and that the family continues to find ways to spend meaningful time together

Speaking to The Sunday Times in September, she said: ‘It was of the hardest decisions I ever had to make. 

‘But among the sadness and discomfort, it was the right move — for him, for our girls, for me. Ultimately, I could get back to being his wife. And that’s such a gift.

‘It’s made such a difference for more friends and family to have their own experience with him without it being my home, without me hovering, or my anxiety of how to manage the guest and their expectations, and then have to see their reactions – their sadness at what is.’

In 2023, Bruce’s close-knit blended family – including his ex-wife Demi Moore, and their daughters Rumer, 37, Scout, 34, and Tallulah, 31 – publicly announced that he’d been diagnosed with FTD.

While the Die Hard star has stepped away from the spotlight, his family members have periodically updated fans on his condition. 

Detailing their decision to make his diagnosis public to Yvette, Emma explained that they had wanted to break down the stigma surrounding dementia, as well as show Mabel and Evelyn how greatly and widely their father was loved.

She admitted how the pressure to keep Bruce’s disease private had taken its toll on the family, and she didn’t want her daughters growing up thinking it was something that had to be kept secret.

She said: ‘We wanted to be able to help the next family out there. We talk about the stigma of dementia, there’s so much stigma that surrounds it, and for a time being keeping it quiet really wasn’t serving our family. 

She admitted she’d been ‘so isolated for so long’, but that sharing her journey and connecting with others had been ‘a lifeline for me’ and shown ‘there is light in the darkness’ 

‘I wasn’t able to get the experts in, the specialists that we really need, the help that we really need to support our family, because I was so scared about it coming out before it we were ready for it to come out.

‘But what I saw and what I was understanding was the stigma and I never wanted our two young daughters to feel like we needed to talk about their dad’s diagnosis in hushed tones.

‘I thought it was really important… there was like this moment where I knew that we would come out with our family statement that we would share and our young daughters would see the reach that their father has globally, and how beloved he is and how because of his diagnosis that hopefully that would change the way of frontal temporal dementia is perceived moving forward.’

While she realised she needed to open up about the the hidden toll caregiving can take, after receiving a sobering warning from Bruce’s neurologist that nearly 30 percent of caregivers die before the loved one they are caring for.

Emma said one of the key things she hoped readers would take away from her book, The Unexpected Journey: Finding Hope and Purpose on the Caregiving Path, was that it was important to ask for help and not shoulder the burden alone.

She said: ‘I think that it’s important for caregivers to know early on that caregiving is not a solo mission and we shouldn’t believe that it needs to be. 

‘The expert specialist that I brought into my book said most caregivers wait too long to ask for help so that when they do the whole bottom has fallen out and we were close to that. 

‘It was Bruce’s neurologist who really woke me up and told me about the statistics of caregivers dying before their loved ones. And that was shocking to me. As a caregiver, you’re just thrusted into this role. And I didn’t realise that caregiving could be so bad for your health.

‘And I needed the permission, I needed the education from Bruce’s neurologist who said, ‘You are burning the candles at both ends, you are caring for your husband who has a progressive disease – he’s not coming back from this – as well as trying to raise your two daughters. And it’s time to bring in the support.’

‘So I was really grateful that the neurologist gave me the permission I needed because honest to God if she hadn’t have, I would still be doing this on my own.

‘I’d be missing my doctors appointments, I wouldn’t be the mother that I want to be, the wife that I want to be.’

She admitted she’d been ‘so isolated for so long’, but that sharing her journey and connecting with others had been ‘a lifeline for me’ and shown ‘there is light in the darkness’.

Emma said: ‘Today I am feeling more grounded, within myself. In the early days when we received our diagnosis – and I say our because dementia is a family disease – I wasn’t doing so well. It was a very dark, sad, lonely place to be in. 

‘No one ever told me that in time, I would find my footing, I would find hope, purpose, joy and I might actually laugh again. And I wish someone had.’