Emma Heming Willis has revealed that she initially attributed her husband Bruce Willis’ early dementia symptoms to hearing damage he sustained while filming the 1988 action movie “Die Hard,” according to details from her new memoir released this week.
In her book “The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Caregiving Path,” Emma explained that Willis lost a significant portion of his hearing during the filming of the classic action movie when he fired a gun underneath a table multiple times without proper ear protection.
The 47-year-old former model told Fox News Digital that she initially believed communication issues with her husband stemmed from his hearing problems rather than cognitive decline. She indicated that she thought they were experiencing miscommunication because he was not hearing her properly, which she believed explained why they weren’t communicating as well as they used to.
Willis was diagnosed with aphasia in 2022, followed by a more specific diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia in 2023. The 70-year-old actor retired from his acting career following the initial diagnosis after his family announced that his cognitive abilities were being affected.
According to Emma’s account in the book, Willis’ hearing loss from the 1988 film never posed a real problem when the couple first got together before their 2009 marriage. However, she began noticing that her husband started to “check out” during family dinners, which she initially attributed to him allowing his daughters to engage in conversation.
Emma wrote in her memoir that she assumed his hearing loss made it easier for him to withdraw during family gatherings. She described observing him sitting quietly with his hands clasped on his lap, which seemed out of character for someone who previously loved spending time with his daughters and would rush home to be with them.
The hearing damage from “Die Hard” was not the only factor Emma considered when trying to understand the changes in her husband’s behavior. She noted that Willis had experienced a severe stutter as a child, which he had learned to manage over the years. One of the first signs she noticed before his diagnosis was that his childhood stutter was returning.
Willis had previously acknowledged the hearing damage from the film in a 2007 interview with The Guardian, where he stated that due to an accident on the first “Die Hard” film, he suffered two-thirds partial hearing loss in his left ear. His daughter Rumer Willis also referenced this hearing loss in 2013, explaining that her father sometimes struggled in interviews and could appear awkward due to his partial hearing loss.
Emma revealed that their relationship felt very different as symptoms progressed, with their conversations and connection feeling off in ways she couldn’t initially understand. She admitted to Fox News Digital that she was unaware that a lack of empathy was a symptom of early-onset dementia.
The situation became so challenging that Emma contemplated divorce before understanding her husband’s medical condition. She described feeling like her marriage was crumbling and that Bruce was no longer the man she had married. She told Oprah Winfrey that she 100 percent considered leaving Bruce because their previously close relationship seemed to be falling apart.
According to the NHS, frontotemporal dementia is an uncommon type of dementia that causes problems with behavior and language, affecting the front and sides of the brain. The condition often makes it difficult for people to make the right sounds when speaking or causes them to speak slowly.
Emma has since become an advocate for FTD awareness and has detailed her caregiving journey in her memoir. She recently made the difficult decision to move Willis into a separate home where he can receive full-time medical care, a choice she defended as being in the best interest of both Bruce and their two young daughters, Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11.
The couple now communicates through what Emma describes as their own language, involving sitting with him, walking with him, and listening as he tries to verbalize in his own way. She explained that she must read his body language and look into his eyes to understand what he’s experiencing, comparing this instinct to that of a parent caring for a child.
