Bruce Willis’ daughter gives update on ‘Die Hard’ star’s ‘painful’ dementia battle

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Published Aug 30, 2024  •  Last updated 3 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

Tallulah Willis and her father Bruce Willis. Photo by Tallulah Willis /Instagram

Bruce Willis’ daughter, Tallulah, has shared an update on the actor’s ongoing battle with frontotemporal dementia in a new interview.

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“It’s the same, which in this situation is a good thing,” she told E! News when asked about his condition. “Our visits have so much love and I feel that. That overarches anything for me is being able to have that connection.”

Tallulah, 30, says their experiences together now have “really created an opportunity for more love for my family.”

“I know he knows how much I love him. I know how much he loves me, I know how much he loves all of us,” she said. “It’s a hard thing for anyone going through this.”

She also opened up about how her family have strengthened their bond with one another following his “painful” dementia diagnosis.

“There’s so much love in our family,” Tallulah added. “It’s love that is very supportive and very sturdy. There’s not a fragility to the support or conditionality to how we support each other.”

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In a separate interview with PEOPLE, Tallulah — who is the youngest daughter of Bruce, 69, and his ex-wife Demi Moore — said when she sees her dad, it’s important for her “to go into it open to what the visit is, and knowing that before I go in, I’m solid. I’m OK… I’ve done what I need to do to make sure that I can just be present.”

Last summer, Tallulah penned an essay for Vogue in which she wrote about coming to terms with her father’s diagnosis.

“Every time I go to my dad’s house, I take tons of photos — of whatever I see, the state of things,” she wrote. “I’m like an archeologist, searching for treasure in stuff that I never used to pay much attention to. I have every voicemail from him saved on a hard drive. I find that I’m trying to document, to build a record for the day when he isn’t there to remind me of him and of us.”

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In addition to Tallulah, Willis shares two other daughters — Rumer, 36, and Scout, 33 — with Moore, 61.

In March 2022, Willis’ family announced that he had been diagnosed with Aphasia and would be “stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him.”

Last year, his loved ones revealed that he is suffering from a type of dementia known as frontotemporal dementia.

“Since we announced Bruce’s diagnosis of aphasia in spring 2022, Bruce’s condition has progressed and we now have a more specific diagnosis: frontotemporal dementia (known as FTD). Unfortunately, challenges with communication are just one symptom of the disease Bruce faces. While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis,” they shared in a message with his fans.

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According to the Mayo Clinic, frontotemporal dementia is an “umbrella term for a group of brain disorders that primarily affect the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. These areas of the brain are generally associated with personality, behaviour and language.”

Tallulah said that the family is now trying to create awareness around the devastating disease.

“We are in a very unique position where we have this platform. All of us do… all of us in our own ways, have a voice… ‘How can we use something that’s painful or challenging or a struggle and create awareness about it?’” she told E! News.

Earlier this year, Bruce’s second wife Emma Heming — with whom he shares two daughters, Mabel 12, and Evelyn, 10 — said that following her husband’s diagnosis his family has embarked on a “new chapter.”

“There is grief and sadness. There’s all of that. But you start a new chapter,” she said, adding that his family’s life is now filled “with love, it’s filled with connection, it’s filled with joy, it’s filled with happiness.”

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