She wrote the blog for those going through the season “holding a lot at once” and caring for those they love.
WASHINGTON — Emma Heming Willis wrote and published a blog detailing how the holidays are different since her husband Bruce Willis was diagnosed with dementia.
“I’m sharing a reflection on the holidays when dementia becomes part of your life and how this season can bring up grief, loss, love, and moments of meaning all at once,” she wrote. “The holidays don’t disappear with a dementia diagnosis. They change. And while that change can ache, it can also make room for new traditions, softer joy, and connection that still matters deeply.”
She said the blog was written for those going through the season “holding a lot at once” and caring for those they love.
“Grief doesn’t only belong to death. It belongs to change and the ambiguous loss caregivers know so well,” she wrote. “It belongs to the realization that things won’t unfold the way they once did.”
She went on to describe how she was grieving the change of routine. She said Bruce Willis loved the holiday season for “the energy, family time, the traditions.” She called him a pancake-maker and a ‘get-out-in-the-snow-with-the-kids’ kind of guy and how dementia creates a space between those memories and present day.
“That space can ache,” she wrote. “I find myself, harmlessly, cursing Bruce’s name while wrestling with the holiday lights or taking on tasks that used to be his. Not because I’m mad at him, never that, but because I miss the way he once led the holiday charge.”
She encouraged caregivers to be flexible and adapt during the holidays.
“When dementia is part of your family, ‘normal’ becomes a moving target,” she wrote.
She also reminded readers that while grief can be felt, it doesn’t have to be the only thing you experience during the holidays.
“The joy doesn’t cancel out the sadness. The sadness doesn’t cancel out the joy. They coexist,” she wrote.
“There’s no denying that the holidays are different now. But different doesn’t mean empty,” she wrote. “If this season feels heavy for you, please know that you’re not alone. You’re not doing it wrong. And there is no single “right” way to move through this time of year when dementia is part of your life. There is only your way. And that is enough.”
The couple married in 2009 and share two daughters, Mabel Willis and Evelyn Willis. The former action star was previously married to actress Demi Moore, with whom he has three daughters.
Bruce Willis retired from acting in 2022 after he was diagnosed with aphasia and then frontotemporal dementia (FTD). The 70-year-old “Die Hard” star has rarely been seen in public since then, but the family occasionally post photos and videos with him on social media.