Bruce Willis’ wife has smacked down any questions over her decision to move him into separate accommodation during his ongoing fight with dementia.
Following the diagnosis of her husband of 16 years with frontotemporal dementia [FTD] in 2023, Emma Heming Willis decided in August to move the actor into a single-story house nearby, where he is afforded around-the-clock care.
The move generated conversation, one that Good Morning America’s Michael Strahan mentioned in an interview with the former model, 47, surrounding the launch of her new book, The Unexpected Journey.
It “kind of created a debate online,” Strahan said, to which Heming Willis said she “knew it would.”
Despite this, she claimed it “was the safest and best decision—not just for Bruce, but also for our two young girls,” before establishing a clear boundary between public and private family matters.
“And, you know, it’s really not up for a debate,” she said. “Now I know that Bruce has the best care 100 percent of the time. His needs are met 100 percent of the time, as well as our two young daughters.’”
Following a line of argument she has stuck with for days, she added, “So I’m not gonna take a vote on that.”
The move garnered attention and criticism, which saw Heming Willis post a rebuttal against blowback she described as “so loud and so noisy.”
“But if they don’t have the experience with this,” she said on Instagram. “They don’t get a say, and they definitely don’t get a vote.”
The Die Hard icon’s ex-wife, Demi Moore, 62, even came to the defense of his current partner, telling Oprah Winfrey on The Oprah Podcast: “So much fell on Emma to really figure this whole thing out, and the most beautiful thing was recognizing the importance for caregivers and that they have to take care of themselves. If they don’t put that time into making sure that they’re okay, then they can’t show up for anyone else.”
Heming Willis has been a proactive caregiving advocate, calling for more support for the one-in-four Americans caring for loved ones, a topic she focuses on heavily in her new book.
She spoke to USA Today ahead of the launch to champion the experiences of caregivers, saying, “I didn’t know anything about caregiving prior to becoming a caregiver
“I didn’t really know much about FTD until I needed to know about FTD. And you’re just thrust into this seat, and you have to figure out so many things so quickly in real time, and then you figure it out, and then you’re stable, and then all of a sudden, the next shoe drops.”
Heming Willis’ book, The Unexpected Journey, was released Tuesday, Sept. 9.
