Bruce Willis’ wife Emma Hemming Willis has expressed her discomfort at ‘disrespectful’ comments about dementia from doctors.
It comes after Willis’ family announced the actor had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia back in February. He had previously been diagnosed with aphasia, a cognitive communication disorder.
“The veteran actor has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities,” their Instagram statement read at the time.
“As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him. This is a challenging time for our family and we are so appreciative of your continued love, compassion, and support.”
They continued: “We are moving through this as a strong family unit, and wanted to bring his fans in because we know how much he means to you, as you do to him. As Bruce always says, ‘Live it up’ and together we plan to do just that.”
Then, earlier this year, his family issued an update on his condition, and confirmed that his condition had progressed from aphasia to a more specific diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia.
Their statement read: “As a family, we wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for the outpouring of love and compassion for Bruce over the past ten months,” they wrote, adding: “Your generosity of spirit has been overwhelming, and we are tremendously grateful for it. For your kindness, and because we know you love Bruce as much as we do, we wanted to give you an update. “
They continued: “Since we announced Bruce’s diagnosis of aphasia in spring 2022, Bruce’s condition has progressed and we now have a more specific diagnosis: frontotemporal dementia (known as FTD). 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.”
Following this devastating news, members of the family shared the first video of the star after his diagnosis.
A clip of Bruce celebrating his sixty-eighth birthday was shared online, showing Bruce talking and laughing surrounded by his family, while they all sang happy birthday to him.
His ex-wife Demi Moore captioned the sweet post: “Happy birthday, BW! So glad we could celebrate you today. Love you and love our family. Thank you to everyone for the love and warm wishes — we all feel them.”
But the latest news comes from Bruce’s wife, Emma Hemming Willis, who has spoken out against ‘disrespectful’ dementia comments from doctors.
The forty-five-year-old criticised the way that she has heard doctors refer to her husband’s condition, frontotemporal dementia (FTD) as the ‘other dementia’.
“I have so many whys as to why I raise awareness. […] At the end of the day, what I would love to see is a cure, a treatment for this disease. And if we don’t raise our voices, they’re just gonna run right past us. So continue to raise your voice,” she said to her followers via Instagram.
“I’m just gonna leave you with one more thing because now I’m annoyed. When doctors or [the] media speak about dementia, they’ll say ‘Alzheimer’s and other dementia’,” she said, growing increasingly frustrated.
“So FTD is the ‘other dementia’ and let me tell you something about that disease; it is real, it is out there and it will bring you to your knees.
“I think that it is an absolute disservice and absolutely disrespectful for these ‘other dementias’ to be put in that category. I think it’s really important for us to know what these diseases are like vascular, like Lewy body, like FTD.”
She continuted: “Call it what it is because that is where the confusion lies; when people think of dementia they automatically think of Alzheimer’s. I do not want to see this disease and our ‘other dementias’ swept under the rug anymore.”
