Demi Moore shares advice to families of dementia patients after Bruce Willis’s diagnosis

Willis, 68, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in February last year

Demi Moore has opened up about the health of her ex-husband Bruce Willis, offering advice to other families of dementia patients.

Moore, 61, has encouraged relatives of those living with dementia to “let go of” the person their loved one used to be to ease the pain of their situation.

The 68-year-old Die Hard star’s family revealed in 2022 that he would be “stepping away” from acting after he had been diagnosed with aphasia – a brain disorder that leaves a person unable to communicate effectively.

In February 2023, they shared that Willis’s condition had progressed into frontotemporal dementia (FTD). 

Moore opened up about life since her former husband’s diagnosis during an appearance on the SiriusXM show Radio Andy, saying she had learned to “take in the joy and the love” for who Willis is now, rather than who he was before the diagnosis.

When asked what advice she has for families of dementia suffers, Moore said: “I think the most important thing I could share is just to meet them where they’re at.

“When you let go of who they’ve been or who you think they [should be], or who even you would like them to be, you can then really stay in the present and take in the joy and the love that is present and there for all that they are, not all that they’re not.”

Late last year, Emma Heming, Willis’ wife, opened up on a “hard” holiday season amid the actor’s dementia battle.

Bruce Willis and his wife Emma Heming (Getty Images for Film at Lincoln)

The 45-year-old took to Instagram on 29 December and opened up about the importance of having a close support system, which her husband calls the “inner circle”.

She said: “Holidays are hard. Anniversaries are hard, but for me this year it has really been about community – building a community – and connection.”

Heming has been vocal in raising awareness for dementia on social media and frequently hosts Instagram live chats with health experts and fellow carers.

Heming and Willis, who married in 2009, share two young daughters: Mabel Ray, 11, and nine-year-old Evelyn Penn. Willis also shares three older daughters with Moore: Rumer Glenn, 35, Scout LaRue, 32 and Tallulah Belle, 29.

When she first announced Willis’s “cruel disease”, in a joint statement with the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, Heming described it as “the most common form of dementia”.

“And because getting the diagnosis can take years, FTD is likely much more prevalent than we know,” she added.

“Today there are no treatments for the disease, a reality that we hope can change in the years ahead.

“As Bruce’s condition advances, we hope that any media attention can be focused on shining a light on this disease that needs far more awareness and research.”