Emma Heming Willis clarified on The Bossticks podcast on Monday that Bruce Willis has frontotemporal dementia, not Alzheimer’s, and that the variant he has does not affect memory.
Emma Heming Willis on The Bossticks
Bruce Willis, 71, stepped away from acting after an aphasia diagnosis announced in March 2022 and the family disclosed in February 2023 that he was battling FTD; Emma Heming Willis told listeners he still knows who people are, including his five daughters.
Bruce Willis and FTD
Three variants, Emma Heming Willis said, describe the clinical branches of FTD: "The one that Bruce has affects language, but there’s another variant that will affect behavior and another one that could affect movement," — a distinction she used to separate his condition from Alzheimer’s and to explain why memory remains intact in his case.
The Willis Family Timeline
Emma Heming Willis said "No, it doesn’t." in response to whether her husband’s variant affects memory, and added, "That’s a different part of the brain. So when people say, ‘Oh, you know, does he remember who you are?’ Well, he does because he doesn’t have Alzheimer’s; he has FTD," — remarks that the family first framed publicly when they said in February 2023 that this diagnosis brought relief after the initial aphasia announcement.
Emma Heming Willis said "I think that’s a very common misconception that, when you think of dementia, we think of memory loss," and she reiterated that "And Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, but FTD is the most common form of dementia for people under the age of 60." The Willis family also said on the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration website that "While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis," and that there are no treatments for the disease, a reality that frames why Emma Heming Willis and Bruce Willis are now living in separate homes as his condition progresses.
Bruce Willis' exact subtype of frontotemporal dementia—what exact subtype does he have?
