Emma Heming, Bruce Willis’ wife shared new insights into the early stages of the Die Hard star’s dementia diagnosis.
During an interview with Town & Country on October 29, she stated that his speech impediment had encouraged Willis to pursue acting, as a college theatre helped him realize that he could memorize scripts and deliver lines without stuttering.
According to US Weekly, Heming revealed that the family initially dismissed some of Willis’ symptoms, attributing them to his long standing childhood stutter.
In regards to this, the 46-year-old explained, “Bruce has always had a stutter, but he has been good at covering it up.”
Moreover, Heming expressed that as Red actor’s language started to change, they thought it was “a continuation of his stutter as she claimed, “Never in a million years would I think it would be a form of dementia for someone so young.”
The Sixth Sense actor’s condition began in his temporal lobes and has since spread to the frontal part of his brain, impacting his ability to walk, think and make decisions, as per the outlet.
Willis was diagnosed with aphasia in 2022, a disorder that affects communication, but it was only a year later that the more specific diagnosis of FTD was confirmed.
It is worth mentioning that Heming is the mother of two daughters with Willis, Mabel and Evelyn and also three adult children, Rumer, Scott and Tallulah, from Willis’ previous marriage to Demi Moore.
