Emma Heming Willis on Learning to Communicate with Daughters About Bruce Willis' Dementia Diagnosis

Emma Heming Willis has opened up about the challenges of discussing her husband Bruce Willis' frontotemporal dementia (FTD) diagnosis with their daughters, revealing she had to learn how to communicate with them about the condition.

In a recent interview with the Spanish newspaper El Pais, Emma, 47, discussed her experience as a caregiver as her book "The Unexpected Journey" publishes in Spain. She emphasized that she has had to tailor conversations about Bruce's health to be age-appropriate for their two daughters, Mabel, 14, and Evelyn, 12, as well as for Bruce's adult daughters from his previous marriage to Demi Moore: Rumer, 37, Scout, 34, and Tallulah, 32.

"Bruce has three adult daughters, so I had to learn how to communicate with them about something that I was even still trying to come to terms with as well," Emma told the outlet. She acknowledged the difficulty of balancing honesty with protecting her children, saying, "We always feel like we make the world and everything be rainbows and unicorns for our children. But that's not our world. And what we're going through as a family with their father and his disease, that's not that world."

Emma explained her approach to these sensitive conversations: "When I give them the information, I wait for them to sort of ask me questions. And when they ask me the questions, I give them truthful answers. Which isn't always easy, but I think that helps them feel a little bit more safe in that, knowing that I'm never going to tell them something that's not true."

The Willis family first announced Bruce's aphasia diagnosis in 2022, leading him to step away from acting. A year later, Emma disclosed that his condition had been specified as frontotemporal dementia. Emma, who married Bruce in 2009, previously shared in a September 2025 interview with PEOPLE that the family decided to move Bruce into a separate one-story home near their residence to provide a calm environment for both him and their young daughters.

Emphasizing that she does not claim perfection, Emma added, "I'm not saying I do it perfectly all the time. I'm not a perfect caregiver. I'm not a perfect person. I'm not a perfect mom, of course. I think as caregivers and parents, we're just trying to do the best that we can."