Rumer Willis admitted that it is difficult for her to describe the condition of the famous actor who has been diagnosed with "dementia." Now he only sometimes recognizes her when she visits him with her granddaughter Louetta, writes Focus.
Actor Bruce Willis, father of five, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in 2022 at the age of 67. Since then, his daughters and wife have often been asked about the condition of the star of "Die Hard," and Rumer Willis gave an honest answer to fans and journalists, writes People.
37-year-old Rumer Willis explained why it is difficult for her to answer fans' questions about how her father Bruce Willis is doing during a Q&A session in her Instagram stories.
She noted that "everyone with frontotemporal dementia is not doing very well. But from the perspective of a person suffering from frontotemporal dementia, he is doing fine, you understand what I mean?"
Rumer said that, in her opinion, normal parameters of a person's well-being "no longer apply" when it comes to her father, so for her, it is "always an interesting question" that she needs to answer.
"I would say: I am so happy and grateful that I can still go up and hug him. I am so grateful that when I go up and hug him, whether he recognizes me or not, he feels my love, and I feel it in return. Yes, I am just grateful that I can go there with Louetta, and we can spend time with him, and I feel his love for me that he gives me, and that I can love him and be with him," she added that she "still sees a spark in him, and he can feel the love that I give."
Rumer has previously spoken openly about the difficulties of not being able to communicate with her father as she did before the diagnosis, as there is no treatment for him. In an Instagram post in June, timed to Father's Day, she admitted: "Today is hard."
"It’s a pity I didn’t ask you more questions while you could still tell me everything. But I know you wouldn’t want me to be sad today, so I will try to just be grateful, reminding myself how lucky I am that you are my dad," Rumer shared.
The actor from "The Sixth Sense" also has daughters Scout LaRue Willis, 34, and Tallulah Belle Willis, 31, from his ex-wife Demi Moore, as well as daughters Mabel Ray Willis, 13, and Evelyn Penn Willis, 11, from his wife Emma Heming Willis.
"FTD doesn’t shout, it whispers. It’s very hard to understand where Bruce stops and where his illness begins. I started to notice that his stutter returned, but I never thought in my life that this was a symptom of FTD. Conversations stopped being smooth, and our relationship began to change. I found it hard to understand why and what was happening," Bruce Willis' wife said.
Emma admitted that there are moments when Bruce Willis "shows his family glimpses of his charismatic personality."
"He holds our hands. We kiss him. We hug him. He reciprocates. I don’t need him to know that I am his wife — I don’t need any of that. I just want to feel that I have a connection with him. And I do," Emma shared.
It was reported in the summer that Bruce Willis' condition had worsened. He can no longer walk or talk.
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