‘One of the many reasons I fell hard’

Emma Heming doesn’t shy away from reminiscing about easier times, difficult as it may be.

In honor of the Met Gala last night, the MakeTime Wellness co-founder shared a photo of her and husband Bruce Willis attending for the first and last time when they were newlyweds.

The former model and the Die hard actor have been married since 2009; the latter was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in 2023 and has since largely retired from the public eye.

Emma, 47, took to Instagram on Monday and re-posted to her Stories a past post of hers, a photo of her and Burce at the 2009 Met Gala, when the theme was “The Model As Muse.”

The photo sees Emma and Bruce, 71, wearing their black tie best, with big smiles on their faces and Bruce appearing ready to party. “That’s how we did the Met Gala in 2009,” Emma wrote.

The original caption of the post, from 2022, read: “One of the many [reasons] I fell hard for Bruce was because he never takes anything too seriously. As you can clearly see here at our first (and last) Met Gala, as newlyweds back in 2009. He’s just up for a good time no matter where or when and I’m here for it.”

Emma and Bruce, who started dating in 2007 after meeting at the gym, are parents to two daughters, Mabel Ray, 13, and Evelyn Penn, 12, plus he also shares daughters Rumer Willis, 37, Scout Willis, 34, and Tallulah Willis, 32, with ex-wife Demi Moore, to whom he was married from 1987 to 2000.

In March of this year, in honor of Bruce’s 71st birthday, Emma reflected on the tough realities of his FTD diagnosis, writing: “This journey with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) has opened my eyes to the realities so many families face. It’s what inspired me to create The Emma & Bruce Willis Fund to raise awareness of FTD, support research, and stand beside the caregivers who carry so much every day.”

Bruce’s family first publicly disclosed in 2022 that he had been diagnosed with aphasia, before sharing that the diagnosis was later specified to be FTD. 

© FilmMagic

Directing fans to the couple’s foundation — Emma has become a steadfast advocate for those with FTD as well as their caregivers, as she is for Bruce — she further wrote: “If you’d like to honor Bruce today, please consider supporting the fund or another organization working in this space, or simply checking in on a caregiver — a small act of kindness that can mean so much.”

© Instagram

In September 2025, Emma, long vocal about her journey becoming a caregiver for someone with FTD, released a part memoir, part guide, The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Caregiving Path, which details both her journey in caring for Bruce amid his FTD diagnosis, and offers a guide for caregivers. 

While promoting the book, she spoke with Diane Sawyer for an ABC special, and shared she isn’t sure Bruce “ever really connected the dots” to understand his diagnosis, though still, she noted he “is still very mobile. Bruce is in really great health overall, you know,” but that “the language is going, and, you know, we’ve learned to adapt … and we have a way of communicating with him, which is just a … different way.” She added: “It’s just his brain that is failing him.”