Bruce Willis’ daughter Rumer Willis has given fans a heartbreaking update on her famous father’s struggle with primary progressive aphasia (PPA), a subtype of frontotemporal dementia (FTD).
Rumer, 37, answered questions from her followers on her Instagram Story on Thursday. “How’s your dad doing?” one post prompted her to admit, “people ask this question all the time.”
She explained, “It’s hard to answer because the truth is that everyone with FTD is not doing well.”
Loomer detailed that Bruce, 70, is “doing OK for someone with frontotemporal dementia.”
The actress confessed that “those parameters” influence the way she views situations.
Still, she feels “so happy and grateful” that she can still “hug him.” And “whether he recognizes (her) or not,” she believes he “recognizes love,” and she feels it in response.
Although Bruce is not the father she once knew, Rumer still sees “a glow in him” and “feels really good.”
The singer is also grateful to be able to take her 2-year-old daughter Louetta to her grandfather.
The blended Willis family announced in March 2022 that Bruce suffered from aphasia and would be retiring from a decades-long acting career.
They revealed his FTD diagnosis the following February.
In August, his wife Emma Hemming lamented the “difficult decision” to move him to another home, explaining that his neurodegenerative disease requires 24-hour care in a quiet, comfortable and safe environment.
She hit back at “vocal” critics who were “swift” to “judge” her calling him his “caregiver.” “If they don’t have this experience, they don’t have a voice. And they definitely don’t have a vote.”
Mr Hemming, 47, said last month that the new living arrangements had been beneficial for the whole family, giving the couple’s daughters – Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11, the chance to become their energetic childhood selves.
The author made sure to point out that separate homes do not mean separate lives, since they often spend their days together with movie stars. Mabel and Evelyn also store clothes, toys, arts and crafts at his home nearby.
Bruce shares Rumer, daughter Scout Willis, 34, and daughter Talulah Willis, 31, with his first wife, actress Demi Moore, 63.
