ACTION hero Bruce Willis faces the toughest fight of his life — but he will not be doing it alone.
His Brit wife Emma Heming, his ex Demi Moore and his five daughters make up the seven-strong team that will be backing him all the way.
Die Hard star Bruce, 67, has been diagnosed with an incurable form of dementia which will gradually rob him of his vital functions.
The news comes ten months after the family announced he could no longer work due to a brain condition called aphasia.
Yesterday in a joint message Emma, Demi and the girls said: “Bruce has always found joy in life — and has helped everyone he knows to do the same. It has meant the world to see that sense of care echoed back to him and to all of us.
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“We have been so moved by the love you have all shared for our dear husband, father, and friend during this difficult time.”
Mum-of-two Emma, 44, is his primary carer, helping him deal with the day-to-day struggles of what the family call a “cruel” disease.
But Ghost star Demi, 60 — who split from Bruce 22 years ago — still spends a lot of time with him and is now supporting Emma.
At Christmas, a festive snap showed Emma’s arm around Demi who was gently holding on to a smiling Bruce.
On the other side of them older daughters Scout, 31, Tallulah, 29, and Rumer, 34, stand with their younger stepsisters Mabel Ray, ten, and Evelyn Penn, eight.
Demi and Bruce have always said they wanted to stay best friends after their divorce. They spent much of the pandemic together and even used to share holidays with Ashton Kutcher, when Demi was wed to the actor.
As a result, Bruce and Demi’s three girls feel comfortable around stepmother Emma, who married their dad almost 14 years ago on the Turks and Caicos Islands estate he used to own.
Signs that something was wrong with Bruce’s health started to appear around three years ago when the star — who played a wise-cracking private detective alongside Cybill Shepherd in 1980s series Moonlighting — began struggling to remember his lines.
Prior to his retirement from acting in April last year, Bruce had reportedly twice misfired a gun on set.
The family learned he had aphasia, which can cause language and comprehension problems as well as migraines and seizures.
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At the time Rumer said: “We are moving through this as a strong family unit. As Bruce always says, ‘Live it up’, and together we plan to do just that.”
Now they have a more specific diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia — the illness which led to the death of Monty Python star Terry Jones two years ago.
Damage to the frontal lobes of the brain, which control behaviour and emotions, can leave patients upsettingly outspoken and prone to repeat mistakes, sometimes even dangerous ones. But experts say that with the right support people with this little-understood condition can live longer and happier lives.
And that seems to be the approach of the Willis clan.
Emma makes sure he has plenty of time for playing with their daughters Mabel and Evelyn at their sprawling estate in Brentwood, California.
She has posted several images on social media of a proud Bruce cuddling the girls, above.
She has also taken him to Fox Plaza, the Los Angeles tower that featured in Die Hard.
But clearly there has been pain behind the smiles. In one message on Instagram, Emma wrote: “My grief can be paralysing but I’m learning how to live alongside it.
“As my step-daughter Scout Willis told me, grief is the deepest and purest form of love. I hope you find some comfort in that too.”
Rumer has also been posting pictures of her having fun with her “daddio” over the past year.
She captioned one: “What a privilege it is every day to be your daughter.” She captioned another: “I love laughing with you”.
Alongside a photo of Bruce, actress Tallulah spelled out on Instagram: “I love my parents and my family — I do, I do, I do.”
This loving atmosphere could help disrupt the ravages of frontotemporal dementia, which affects around 16,000 people in the UK.
Clinical psychologist Reinhard Guss, who specialises in dementia, told The Sun: “Most people perceive dementia as this terrible death penalty of deterioration and decay. But it is possible to actually be able to install some hope and a good life can be achieved.”
While there are no drugs available to slow its effect, there has been a greater understanding of the condition over the past decade — and the benefits of using the kind of physio and speech therapy given to stroke sufferers.
Reinhard, who has written a guide with the British Psychological Society to living with dementia, added: “It is often the case that prior to the diagnosis people have acted in ways that are insensitive, withdrawing themselves, annoyed or upset people around them and it often helps for families to understand where that came from.”
That was the feeling of the seven women closest to Bruce.
In their statement they said: “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.
“Frontotemporal dementia is a cruel disease many of us have never heard of and can strike anyone.”
- For more information visit alzheimers.org.uk
