Emma Heming Willis has a clear message for anyone who criticizes her family’s decisions surrounding her husband Bruce Willis’ dementia diagnosis.
“F*** em! As Bruce would say,” Heming Willis said, prompting an eruption of applause from the audience at End Well 2025, a Los Angeles conference focused on end-of-life care.
Heming Willis, 47, joined actor Yvette Nicole Brown on Thursday to discuss their experiences as caregivers, with Brown taking care of her father while Heming Willis is the caregiver for her husband. The 70-year-old Die Hard actor’s family announced in 2023 that he was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia a year after they said he was “stepping away” from acting due to his aphasia.
The model’s dismissal of her critics came after Brown asked her about the criticism she faced earlier this year when she moved Willis out of their family home due to the degenerative nature of the condition.
At the time, Heming Willis said her husband would have wanted their two daughters’ lives to be unaffected by adjustments to their home, but it did not stop trolls from judging her decision.
“I tell you, when I heard about the house thing, I wanted to throw elbows for you, honey,” Brown said. “Because the thing is, what people don’t understand who aren’t caregivers, is that every caregivee is different, especially if you’re dealing with dementia or alzheimer’s, it’s very unwieldy… And we all are doing our best and making the best decisions for your family. So when I came for you, I wanted to come for them.”
Heming Willis became emotional as she went on to say she was forced to make “impossible decisions” in the wake of her husband’s diagnosis.
“This is not how I envisioned our life,” she said through tears. “So I had to make the best and safest decision for our family. And I knew, by being honest and open about it, that it would be met with a lot of judgment.”
The couple married in 2009 and has two daughters, 13-year-old Mabel and 11-year-old Evelyn. Heming Willis previously said she takes the girls over to Willis’ one-story home for breakfast and dinner each day to keep their family connected.
During an appearance for her new memoir, The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Caregiving Path, Heming Willis recently said that it is a blessing that Willis does not know he has FTD.
“The person doesn’t realize that they are experiencing a decline in their health,” she said on NewsNation last month. “So it’s not denial; this is just a part of the disease. So, it’s a blessing and a curse. But I am grateful that Bruce never tapped into the idea that he had FTD.”
