Bruce Willis receives outpouring of love from family on 69th birthday amid dementia battle
Big birthday for Bruce.
Bruce Willis’ loved ones — including wife Emma Heming Willis and two of his daughters — wished the Hollywood star a happy birthday by posting several heartfelt messages on Tuesday.
“Just like you, we simply adore him,” Heming Willis, 45, wrote next to an Instagram photo of the Hollywood legend, 69.
“What you might not know, but maybe you could imagine, that being wrapped in his arms is the safest place in this whole wide world,” she continued. “He’s a true gentle-man. With so much love to give and share.
“That’s what I get to see, his true core. I can tell you, it’s so pure and ever so good,” the former British model concluded. “Happy Birthday my love. You are the gift that keeps giving.”
Several of the “Die Hard” star’s fans were quick to comment their well wishes on the post, which racked up nearly 15,000 likes mere minutes after being posted.
In addition to Heming Willis, two of Willis’ daughters — whom he had with ex-wife Demi Moore — took to their own social media accounts.
“Oh Daddio, to be loved by you is such a gift. You are the funniest, most tender, charming, out-of-this-world silly talented and magical papa,” Rumer Willis, 35, wrote on Instagram next to a carousel of photos.
“Looking through these photos this morning I am just filled with the deepest gratitude that we chose to spend this life together,” she continued. “I am your first baby and man sometimes I wish I could be tiny enough to just cozy up on your chest again and laugh and cuddle you. I love you so deep in my bones I don’t know how my muscles hold them.”
“You are the greatest papa I could ever hope for,” Rumer went on. “Thank you for your generosity, your silliness and heart. Lou loves you so big. Happy Birthday, Daddio.”
Scout Willis, 32, for her part, wrote: “HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE KING. Wild how so little has changed even though so much has changed.
“My dad is one of my best friends, perhaps now on a deeper level than ever honestly. I cherish his affection and the immense freedom with which he’s always loved us,” she continued. “The third slide is when I did this super fancy debutante ball, my mom made me take waltz lessons, but then when they had my dad and I start the evening dancing, I asked if he knew what he was doing and he said ‘just go with it’ and we did.”
According to Willis’ middle child, the famed actor “swung me around that fancy ballroom with Jersey boy confidence and a mischievous elegance that I pray every day I inherited.”
“A tender, moody, beautiful, very Piscean man, whose depth of love for his family can only be felt, not articulated. Any words I use would be woefully inadequate,” she added. “So instead I want to say thank you for loving my papa, thank you for sharing your stories of what he means to you, it’s such a gift to feel your love. Happy happy birthday to the GOAT.”
The actor’s loved ones have kept a united front amid his battle with frontotemporal dementia, also known as FTD.
In 2022, his family announced he was retiring from acting after he was diagnosed with aphasia. He was officially diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in February 2023.
“While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis,” the family said in a statement at the time. “FTD is a cruel disease that many of us have never heard of and can strike anyone.”
“Bruce has always found joy in life — and has helped everyone he knows to do the same. It has meant the world to see that sense of care echoed back to him and to all of us.”
Johns Hopkins Medicine defines FTD as a group of disorders that occur when nerve cells in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain are lost. FTD can also affect behavior, personality, language and movement.
In September 2023, Heming Willis sat down with Hoda Kotb on “Today” to discuss her husband’s condition.
“It’s hard to know,” she said when Kotb, 59, asked her if she thought the “Pulp Fiction” star was aware of his condition.
Susan Dickinson, the CEO of the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, told the news anchor that the disease affects everyone differently.
“What we know is, obviously the disease can start in the frontal or the temporal lobes,” explained Dickinson. “And one of the things that the frontal lobe controls is self-insight.
“So we really don’t know some people that’s the first thing they lose is any understanding that they themselves have changed,” she continued. “And other people retain that for a long time.”
Several members of Willis’ family have reportedly moved in with the Golden Globe winner in order to spend as much time with him as possible.
“Once Bruce was diagnosed, everyone came together to keep his memory of the family intact and to be there as a constant reminder [that they] love him. [Everything] revolves around him,” a source close to the family told Us Weekly.
A second source revealed that Moore, 61, has been the main rallying point for the family.
“Sadly, there’s this ticking clock connected to Bruce’s condition,” the source added. “Everyone has come together for Bruce. They’re thankful they have each other.”
