The holidays can be a hard time for many families, and the Willises are no different.
Emma Heming Willisopened up about how she and her family cope during the holiday season amidBruce Willis' battle withdementiaduring an appearance at the2025 EndWell Summitearlier this month.
"It's joyous. It's just different," Heming Willis, 47, toldPeople magazinein an interview published Thursday, Nov. 27. "Bruce loved Christmas, and we love celebrating it with him. It just looks different, so we've kind of adapted to that."
Following hisretirement from actingin 2022 due to an aphasia diagnosis, Willis' familyrevealed in February 2023that the actor had been diagnosed withfrontotemporal dementia, a brain disorder caused by degeneration of the brain's frontal lobe.
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"You have to learn and adapt and make new memories, bring in the same traditions that you had," Heming Willis told the magazine. "Life goes on. It just goes on. Dementia is hard, but there is still joy in it. I think it's important that we don't paint such a negative picture around dementia. We are still laughing. There is still joy. It just looks different."
Heming Willis and Bruce Willis have been married since 2009. The couple shares daughters Mabel Ray, 13, and Evelyn Penn, 11. Willis also has three daughters —Rumer, 37,Scout, 34, andTallulah, 31 — with ex-wife and actressDemi Moore.
Our lives are "very simple — [they] always actually [have] been," Heming Willis reflected. "I think that just being able to be present with him, that is the joy. Me being able to be his wife with him. Those are the moments."
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As for what other families can do to get into the holiday spirit, the caregiving advocate has a recommendation that is quintessentially Willis.
"I think it's important to put'Die Hard'on because it's a Christmas movie," Heming Willis said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Bruce Willis wife on dealing with actor's dementia amid the holidays