Demi Moore made moving statements about ex-husband Bruce Willis’ battles with aphasia and frontotemporal dementia on Friday.
The “Substance” star admitted during a CNN interview that she wouldn’t “wish [his condition] upon anyone.”
Although she called the retired actor’s struggles “very difficult,” Moore noted, “There is great loss, but there is also great beauty and gifts that can come from it.”
The 62-year-old clarified that Willis, 69, “is in a very stable place at the moment … given the givens.”
She continued, “It’s so important for anybody who’s dealing with this to really meet them where they’re at. And from that place, there is such loving and joy.”
The actor was married to Willis from 1987 to 2000, with the former couple welcoming daughters Rumer, 36, Scout, 33, and Tallulah, 30, during their time together.
The exes remained amicable post-split, even quarantining together amid the coronavirus pandemic.
By that point, Willis was married to wife Emma Heming with whom he shares daughters Mabel, 12, and Evelyn, 10.
All of his family members teamed up in March 2022 to release a joint statement announcing his departure from acting.
Willis’ loved ones explained that he was battling aphasia, a condition characterized by difficulty expressing and understanding language.
The following year, they shared the “Die Hard” star’s frontotemporal dementia diagnosis.
“Unfortunately, challenges with communication are just one symptom of the disease Bruce faces,” their February 2023 statement read. “While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis.”
Moore last spoke to the “beauty” of her ex’s declining health at the 2024 Hamptons International Film Festival in October.
“The disease is what the disease is, and I think you have to be in real deep acceptance of what that is,” she said. “When you’re holding on to what was, I think it’s a losing game.”
As for Heming, the 46-year-old model gave insight that same month into why she “never tried to sugarcoat” Willis’ condition from their girls.
“They’ve grown up with Bruce declining over the years,” she told Town & Country Magazine at the time. “I’m not trying to shield them from it.
“What I learned from our therapist was that if children ask questions, they’re ready to know the answer,” Heming, who married Willis in 2009, continued.
She confirmed that while the little ones “know that Daddy’s not going to get better,” Mabel and Evelyn have not asked her about the Golden Globe winner’s life expectancy amid his “chronic, progressive and terminal” illness.
Read the full article here
