Tallulah Willis shares health update on father Bruce Willis amid ‘painful days’
Bruce Willis’s daughter Tallulah Willis has given an update on her father’s health.
The 30-year-old spoke on the Today Show with hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb on Wednesday, September 18, about how The Sixth Sense star is coping with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), which he was diagnosed with last year.
“He’s doing stable, which in this situation is good, and is hard,” she told the talk show hosts. “There’s painful days, but there’s so much love.”
She explained that since the Die Hard actor’s diagnosis, she’s learned to spend her time more wisely and be appreciative of any time she is able to spend with her family, especially her dad.
“It’s really shown me to not take any moment for granted, and I really do think that we’d be best friends,” she said. “I think he’s very proud of me. You have to be in the moment. You have to be present.”
Tallulah’s interview comes just days after her mother and one of Bruce’s exes, Demi Moore, spoke on The Drew Barrymore Show about how he’s been doing.
“I think he’s doing, you know, given the givens, he is in a stable place,” she told Barrymore. “You know, it’s what I say to my kids is you meet them where they’re at. You don’t hold on to who they were or what you want them to be, but who they are in this moment.
“And from that, there is such beauty and joy and loving and sweetness. When I’m in LA, I go over every week, and I really treasure the time that we all share.”
In March 2022, the actor was diagnosed with aphasia, a language disorder caused by brain damage that can lead to difficulties comprehending, speaking, reading, or writing.
However, one of the actor’s other daughters, Rumer, provided an update last year when she explained her father received a “more specific” diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a “rare and aggressive” form of the disease.
FTD is a wide term used for various brain diseases that mostly affect the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain which are associated with personality, language, and behavior, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Tallulah has previously spoken out about her father’s health before as she said on The Drew Barrymore Show why her family is so open about Bruce’s health. “I think it’s twofold. I think on one hand, it’s who we are as a family,” she said. “But also, it’s really important for us to spread awareness about FTD.”
“If we can take something that we’re struggling with as a family and individually, to help other people, to turn it around, to make something beautiful about it, that’s really special for us.”
Since finding out about her father’s diagnosis, Tallulah has also been diagnosed with autism which she continues to speak out on.
“It was very emotional,” she revealed on the Today Show about being diagnosed at 29 years old. “If I’m being honest, I really hated myself and I thought I was very broken. So to learn that the elements of myself that I thought were maladies or wrong or just too much for this world are actually okay, and they just require a little bit more tools. And it gave me more grace for myself.”
