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The actor’s family announced his frontotemporal dementia diagnosis in 2023
Amber Raikenin New YorkFriday 21 November 2025 17:42 GMTComments
CloseBruce Willis' daughter gives heartbreaking update on father's dementia
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Rumer Willis has given an honest update about how her father, Bruce Willis, is doing amid his dementia diagnosis.
The 70-year-old actor’s family announced in 2023 that he was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), one year after they said he was “stepping away” from acting due to his aphasia.
During a Q&A session Thursday on her Instagram Story, Rumer — who is the daughter of Bruce and his ex-wife Demi Moore — responded to a fan who asked about her dad’s health.
“I think it’s kind of a hard one [question] to answer because the truth is that anybody with FTD is not doing great,” the 37-year-old said. “But he’s doing okay in terms of somebody who’s dealing with frontotemporal dementia, you know what I mean?”
“The only way I feel like I could answer that in a way that's like he's doing great... How do I say this?” she added. “It's like those parameters don't really work anymore in my mind, so this is an interesting question.”
open image in galleryRumer Willis says she’s grateful her father Bruce can ‘feel the love’ she gives him amid his dementia diagnosis (Getty Images)
open image in galleryRumer Willis responds to a fan asking how her dad Bruce is doing (rumerwillis / Instagram)So, Rumer chose to answer this question by explaining how much love the Die Hard star brings to her life.
“I'm so happy and grateful that I still get to go and hug him,” the actor — who has a two-year-old daughter, Louetta, with ex-boyfriend Derek Richard Thomas — said. “I'm so grateful that when I go over there and give him a hug, whether he recognizes me or not, that he can feel the love I've given him, and I can feel it back from him.”
“That I still see a spark of him and he can feel the love that I'm giving and so that feels really nice.”
She reiterated how much she loves seeing Bruce spend time with his granddaughter and their family.
“I just feel grateful that I get to go over there with Lou and we get to spend time with him,” she said, “And I get to feel the love that he has for me and that he puts out for me and that I can love him and be with him.”
Along with Rumer, Bruce and Moore, who were married from 1987 to 2000, share two other daughters: Scout, 34, and Tallulah, 31.
Earlier Thursday, Bruce’s wife, Emma Heming Willis, spoke about his FTD at End Well 2025, a Los Angeles conference focused on end-of-life care. She told actor Yvette Nicole Brown about the “impossible” decisions she’s had to make as Bruce’s caretaker and the criticism she’s received for it, after she moved him out of their family home earlier this year, due to the degenerative nature of his condition.
open image in galleryEmma Heming Willis spoke about her husband Bruce's dementia diagnosis during End Well 2025 (End Well)“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.”
Bruce and Heming Willis, who got married in 2009, have two daughters, 13-year-old Mabel and 11-year-old Evelyn. Heming Willis previously said she takes the girls over to Bruce’s one-story home for breakfast and dinner each day to keep their family connected.
The former model gave another update on Bruce’s condition last month, while discussing her new memoir — The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Caregiving Path — in which she wrote that it’s actually a blessing that her husband doesn’t know he has FTD.
“The person doesn’t realize that they are experiencing a decline in their health. 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,” she said during an appearance on NewsNation.
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