Two of Bruce Willis’s family members shared emotional posts on Father’s Day as their father continues to battle the effects of frontotemporal dementia.
Rumer Willis, the eldest daughter of the “Die Hard” and “The Sixth Sense” star, 36, reflected on her relationship with her father and expressed sadness due to his condition in an Instagram post on Sunday.
“Today is hard, I feel a deep ache in my chest to talk to you and tell you everything I’m doing and what’s going on in my life,” Rumer wrote. “To hug you and ask you about life and your stories and struggles, and successes. I wish I asked you more questions while you could still tell me about it all. But I know you wouldn’t want me to be sad today so I’ll try to just be grateful reminding myself how lucky I am that you’re my dad and that you’re still with me and I can still hold you and hug you and kiss your cheek and rub your head I can tell you stories.”
In 2022, Willis, 70, who grew up in Salem County and enrolled in the drama program at Montclair State University, announced he had been diagnosed with disorder aphasia. The former actor received a more specific diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia in 2023.
Bruce’s second wife, Emma Heming Willis, 46, also shared a post on her Instagram account, wishing him a happy Father’s Day and acknowledging those sticking with their fathers through disease.
“Happy Father’s Day to all the dads living with disability or disease, showing up in the ways they can and to the children who show up for them,” Emma wrote, attached to a picture of Bruce holding one of their two daughters.
In an interview with People in 2022, Emma mentioned that after Bruce’s diagnosis, she was given minimal direction as to what to do next. Despite that, she described putting an impressive team together to help Bruce in the best ways possible.
“What Bruce teaches our girls goes far beyond words,” she continued. “Resilience, unconditional love, and the quiet strength in simply being present. This photo says so much. Love deepens. It adapts. It stays, even when everything else changes. But to be fair to myself, these symbolic days stir up a lot.”
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Murjani Rawls may be reached at mrawls@njadvancemedia.com