00:00Dementia is hard. It's hard on the person diagnosed. It's also hard on the family.
00:05And that is no different for Bruce or myself or our girls.
00:09Bruce Willis' wife, Emma Hemming-Willis, is speaking out about the actor's battle with frontotemporal dementia
00:15and whether he fully understands his diagnosis and deteriorating condition.
00:20Hemming-Willis appeared on NBC's Today alongside Susan Dickinson,
00:23the CEO of the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration.
00:27In honor of World Frontotemporal Dementia Awareness Week.
00:30Does he know what's going on? Is that something that he is aware of?
00:36Hard to know.
00:37Dickinson shared that the devastating disease can affect self-insight in some people
00:41and take away their ability to understand their deteriorating health condition.
00:45The pair opened up about other ways the disease can manifest in those suffering from it.
00:49It can affect movement. It can affect speech. And what's the other one, Susan?
00:55Um, behaviors, personality, and what we call executive functioning.
00:59During the interview, Hemming-Willis also spoke about coming to terms with her husband's diagnosis.
01:04It doesn't make it any less painful, but, um, just being in the acceptance is, um,
01:12and just being in the know of what is happening to Bruce just, um, makes it a little bit easier.
01:20The Willis family publicly revealed in 2022 that the 68-year-old Pulp Fiction star was diagnosed with aphasia
01:26and was retiring from acting.
01:28They later shared that he'd been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia earlier this year.
01:32Willis and Hemming-Willis were married in 2009 and have two daughters,
01:36Mabel, age 11, and Evelyn, age 9.
01:38Willis also has three adult children from his prior marriage to Demi Moore, Tallulah, Rumor, and Scout.
01:43For more on this story, go to THR.com.
01:46This is The Hollywood Reporter News.
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