The model shared that the idea of their lives no longer having any joy after his dementia diagnosis is not correct.
Bruce Willis’ wife, Emma Heming Willis, says any insinuation that their lives are devoid of joy amid the Die Hard star’s dementia battle is "far from the truth."
On Sunday, the 45-year-old model took to her personal Instagram to share a video expressing her frustration after she was "clickbaited" by an article about her husband, 68, and their family while scrolling social media.
"It's Sunday morning and I'm triggered," Emma says as she starts the video, explaining the "clickbait" article situation to her 925,000 followers. "The headline basically says there is no more joy in my husband. Now, I can just tell you, that is far from the truth."
Emma's video is in reference to her husband's February 2023 diagnosis with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) -- a condition connected to dementia that primarily affects the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain and impacts a personality's personality, behavior and language, according to Mayo Clinic.
In the year since Bruce's diagnosis, Emma -- as well as Bruce's older children -- have spent much of their time using their platforms to bring awareness to the condition and to debunk common misconceptions about FTD.
"I need society -- and whoever's writing these stupid headlines -- to stop scaring people. Stop scaring people to think that once they get a diagnosis of some kind of neurocognitive disease that -- that's it. 'It's over. Let's pack it up. We're -- Nothing else to see here. We're done.' No," Emma continued in her video.
"There is grief and sadness. There's all of that. But you start a new chapter," she noted.
For the couple -- who wed in 2009 and share daughters Mabel Ray, 11, and Evelyn Penn, 9 -- this chapter of their life is also filled "with love, it's filled with connection, it's filled with joy, it's filled with happiness." Bruce also shares Rumer, Scout and Tallulah with his ex-wife, Demi Moore.
Emma has previously spoken out about some of the more strenuous parts of her husband's health issues, including the guilt she experiences when seeking out alone time as a mother and her husband's full-time caretaker, as well as the idea that it's unclear if Bruce is fully aware of his condition.
In her new post, the mom of two also took the opportunity to urge media outlets covering her husband's diagnosis and the issue as a whole to exercise sensitivity and obtain a deeper understanding of FTD and all facets, including the good and the bad.
"My experience is that two things can be true and exist at the same time. Grief and deep love. Sadness and deep connection. Trauma and resilience. I had to get out of my own way to get here but once I arrived, life really started to come together with meaning and I had a true sense of purpose. There is so much beauty and soulfulness in this story," Heming wrote in the caption.
"Here's what I've come to understand is that we are being educated by the wrong people. People that have an opinion versus an experience. People that have not taken the time to properly educate themselves on any kind of neurocognitive disease. Why can I be so bold and say that? Because I see headline after headline and blurbs of misinformation," she continued.
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