Emma Heming Willis opened up about the holiday season with her husband Bruce Willis, who is battling dementia.
The 47-year-old reflected on how his family is navigating traditions following Bruce’s frontotemporal dementia (FTD) diagnosis.
Emma shared in an interview at the End Well 2025 conference in Los Angeles that the holiday season with Bruce is “joyful” and “different.”
“Bruce loved Christmas and we love celebrating it with him. It’s just different, so we’ve kind of adapted to it,” the British-American model admitted.
Emma has become a strong advocate for dementia awareness.
She is the author of the book The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Path to Caregiving to share here the caregiver journey.
At the End Well conference, Emma joined actress Yvette Nicole Brown to discuss the challenges and resilience of families living with dementia.
“You have to learn, adapt and create new memories, introduce the same traditions as before,” she emphasized in the interview.
“Life goes on. It goes on. Dementia is hard, but there’s still joy. I think it’s important that we don’t paint such a negative picture of dementia. We still laugh. There’s still joy. It’s just different.”
Emma reveals that their family life “is very simple – it always has been. I think just being able to be present with him, that’s the joy. Me being able to be his wife with him. Those are the moments.”
The 70-year-old was previously diagnosed with aphasia in 2022, followed by FTD in 2023.
His family announced his retirement shortly after.
