{"id":12932,"date":"2026-08-09T14:04:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T14:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/realnewsz13.store\/?p=12932"},"modified":"2026-08-09T14:04:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T14:04:31","slug":"debilitating-childhood-disorder-returned-before-bruce-willis-diagnosed-with-ftd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realnewsz13.store\/?p=12932","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Debilitating\u2019 childhood disorder returned before Bruce Willis diagnosed with FTD"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"May<\/p>\n

Emma Heming Willis says she still wrestles with guilt as she looks back on the return of a \u201cdebilitating\u201d childhood condition Bruce Willis had spent years keeping under control \u2013 never imagining it could be linked to dementia.<\/p>\n

Since Bruce Willis\u2019 family revealed he was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in 2023, his wife Emma has become one of the condition\u2019s most vocal advocates, sharing not only the realities of his illness but also the emotional toll it has taken on their family.<\/p>\n

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Speaking on Today\u2019s Making Space with Hoda Kotb just one day before the 27th anniversary of The Sixth Sense, Emma admitted that even celebrating her milestone 50th birthday wasn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have not really been in the celebratory feelings of late,\u201d she told the host on Aug. 5. \u201cI was unsure if I really wanted to do anything. But I had a friend of mine who kept sort of pushing and saying, \u2018You know what? You don\u2019t wanna miss out on your 50th. You have to celebrate in some form or fashion.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2018What would my husband want for me?\u2019<\/strong>
\nAfter taking time to think about it, Emma realized she didn\u2019t want to look back with regrets.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI really sat with that, and I thought about it. And I thought, \u2018You know what? I don\u2019t wanna look back and think, why didn\u2019t I celebrate 50?\u2019 It is something to celebrate.\u201d<\/p>\n

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She ultimately celebrated the occasion with family and close friends but admitted the emotions surrounding Bruce Willis\u2019 illness never completely fade.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always wrestle with it, you know?\u201d she said. \u201cI think guilt is something that I am always carrying, but I\u2019ve learned that it is really not helpful. What I know is I always go back to what would my husband want for me?\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s not Alzheimer\u2019s<\/strong>
\nEmma has also spent much of her time trying to educate people about FTD, explaining that it doesn\u2019t always look the way many expect.<\/p>\n

During an appearance on The Bossticks podcast in June, she addressed one of the biggest misconceptions she regularly encounters when people ask about her husband.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen people say, \u2018Oh, you know, does he remember who you are?\u2019 Well, he does because he doesn\u2019t have Alzheimer\u2019s; he has FTD,\u201d she said. \u201cI think that\u2019s a very common misconception that, when you think of dementia, we think of memory loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, Emma explained that one of the earliest changes she noticed had nothing to do with Bruce forgetting names or faces.<\/p>\n

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It was something far more familiar.<\/p>\n

A childhood struggle returned<\/strong>
\nAccording to People, his dementia symptoms \u201cstarted with language.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cFor Bruce, it started in his temporal lobes and then has spread to the frontal part of his brain. It attacks and destroys a person\u2019s ability to walk, think, make decisions,\u201d Emma explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs his language started changing, it [seemed like it] was just a part of a stutter, it was just Bruce,\u201d she said in 2024. \u201cNever in a million years would I think it would be a form of dementia for someone so young.\u201d<\/p>\n

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While Emma first spoke about Bruce\u2019s lifelong stutter the year after his diagnosis, she has now shared new details about how it resurfaced as his condition progressed.<\/p>\n

\u2018Debilitating\u2019 stutter
\nDuring her conversation with Kotb on Aug. 5, Emma revisited those early changes and revealed that the speech difficulties were tied to a severe stutter Bruce had struggled with as a child.<\/p>\n