Bruce Willis “never connected” the dots that he has dementia.
The actor’s wife, Emma Heming, made the admission during an intimate chat with Cameron Rogers on her “Conversations with Cam” podcast Wednesday.
When asked if Willis is aware of his frontotemporal dementia (FTP) diagnosis, Heming explained that he thinks his behavior is completely normal. However, she noted that he’s not in denial; it’s his brain’s way of helping him understand his new normal.
“I think that’s the blessing and the curse of this, Bruce never tapped in — he never connected the dots that he has this disease and I’m really happy about that, that he doesn’t know about it,” she confessed.
Heming — who shares Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11, with the “Sixth Sense” actor — also clarified that he knows who everyone around him is, as he has dementia and not Alzheimer’s disease.
“You just learn how to adapt and meet them where they are at,” she said.
Earlier in the conversation, Heming talked about how their communication issues throughout their 18-year marriage made her think that something more was going on.
Explaining that she had to go over Willis’ head to get a diagnosis, the 47-year-old sadly confessed, “It’s really hard to know when Bruce’s disease started and where he started to end.
“I mean, it I don’t really have a clear answer on that and I don’t think I ever will. And I know a lot of other couples that have gone through this. It’s kind of that same sort of trajectory of like you think your marriage is falling apart, you consider divorce, and then you land on finally a diagnosis where everything starts to kind of make sense.
She also explained that it takes “a long time” to get a diagnosis for FTP because it’s often “misdiagnosed” as bipolar disorder, depression and even a midlife crisis.
Heming made similar comments when she spoke to Diane Sawyer in August 2025.
After confessing that she questioned the state of her marriage before getting a diagnosis for Willis, she revealed that he is living in a separate home as his dementia battle progressed.
She told Sawyer, “Bruce would want that for our daughters. He would want them to be in a home that was more tailored to their needs, not his needs.”
She noted that their daughters see the “Pulp Fiction” star, 70, at his second house, which is not far from theirs, “a lot” of the time.
Willis — who is also the father of Rumer, 37, Scout, 34, and Tallulah, 31, with ex-wife Demi Moore — resides with a full-time care team.
The actor’s health issues were first revealed in 2022 when the Golden Globe winner retired from acting due to an aphasia diagnosis.
The following year, Willis was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, which is a progressive neurological disorder characterized by language problems, behavioral changes and mobility issues.
The “Make Time Wellness” co-founder began dating Willis in 2007 before getting married two years later. They then renewed their vows in 2019.
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