Emma Heming Willis Breaks Silence Over Bruce Living in Separate House

Emma Heming Willis is responding to backlash after revealing in her recent ABC special that her husband, Bruce Willis, lives in a separate home nearby amid his battle with dementia.

“I think [the special] did a beautiful job at amplifying FTD awareness,” Heming Willis, 47, said in an Instagram video posted on Friday, August 29. “What I knew is that by sharing some of our intimate information that we would see the two camps, right. It would be people with an opinion vs. people with an actual experience.”

Heming Willis noted that seeing people in the “comments section” remark about her family’s setup and her husband’s health highs and lows made it clear that “people with an opinion” were “quick” to “judge the caregiver.”

The Emma and Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey – A Diane Sawyer Special gave updates on how Willis, 70, is doing amid his illness, frontotemporal dementia, which the actor was diagnosed with in 2022. After the special aired on Tuesday, August 26, Heming Willis received some criticism for sharing that Willis has moved to a second residence where he receives full time care.

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In her Friday video, Heming Willis said that after watching the Diane Sawyer special herself, she revisited her book, The Unexpected Journey — Finding Strength, Hope and and Yourself on the Caregiving Path, which will be released on September 9. “Everyone will have an opinion, but you have to remember that most don’t have the experience to back it up,” she read from an excerpt, crediting her therapist, Kathleen Murphy. “And if that’s the case they shouldn’t offer their two cents about it and you shouldn’t pay them any mind.”

The book quote also noted, “They aren’t in your home so they don’t know how your person is behaving or your family dynamics.”

That message is something Heming Willis has taken to heart, especially when people are judging her choices amid Willis’ health battle.

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“The truth is the opinions are so loud and so noisy but if they don’t have the experience of this they don’t get a say and they definitely don’t get a vote,” she concluded in the video.

Heming Willis also added a caption to the Instagram post, writing, “Too often, caregivers are judged quickly and unfairly by those who haven’t lived this journey or stood on the front lines of it. Sharing openly may invite opinions, but more importantly, it creates connection and validation for those actually navigating the realities of caregiving every day. That’s who I share for and so I can build a deeper connection with a community that understands this journey .”

Heming Willis was instantly met with support from one of Bruce’s eldest daughters Tallulah Willis, who shared an uplifting message in the comments section.

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“I love you so much. We love you so much. Thank you for all you do for us and our family,” Tallulah, 31, replied.

Bruce shares daughters Rumer, 37, Scout, 34, and Tallulah with ex-wife Demi Moore, who has been one of the Die Hard star’s biggest supporters over the years.

The Pulp Fiction actor also shares daughters Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11, with Heming Willis, whom he married in 2009.

Following Bruce’s dementia diagnosis in 2022, which caused him to retire from acting, his family has rallied around him. On Tuesday’s special, shared a rare glimpse into how the health condition has changed their lives over the past few years. She explained that while Bruce is “still very mobile,” his language has been affected.

To better care for Bruce and his ever-changing condition, Heming Willis said that they have a care team that looks after him in their second home, which isn’t far from the house she lives in with their two girls.

The second house is to better improve Bruce’s quality of life, as Heming Willis explained in the special that people with frontotemporal dementia can be sensitive to noise, which is hard to avoid with two kids running around.

“It was one of the hardest decisions that I’ve had to make so far,” she revealed. “But I knew, first and foremost, Bruce would want that for our daughters. You know, he would want them to be in a home that was more tailored to their needs, not his needs.”

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While Heming Willis and their daughters don’t live full-time with Bruce, they frequently visit him and keep their things there. “It is a house that is filled with love and warmth and care and laughter,” she told Sawyer, 79.

Heming Willis also revealed in the special that she felt “so alone” and “so isolated” after her husband’s diagnosis that she fell into a depression. She has since sought treatment and is now focused on helping “raise awareness about this disease” that Willis is dealing with every day.

“We want people to be able to be diagnosed earlier, when they can participate in these trials,” Heming Willis said, hoping that people remember the “rare disease Bruce Willis has” and feel less alone in their quest for answers.