Oct 16, 2025
3 min read
Emma Shingen, the young girl of the cute and the love of Bruce, people who have made the cats.
The children of Bruce Willis and Emma Heming Willis are struggling with a new reality.
Almost three years after the Die Hard star was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), Emma shared an update on how their daughters Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11, are coping with their father's illness.
All things considered, she said, "all things considered," she said, "they miss their father a lot. It's hard for them.
"But kids are resilient. I hated hearing that because people didn't understand what we were going through. I don't know if my kids will ever come back. But they're learning, and so am I," she added.
Emma, 47, is father to daughters Rumer Willis, 37, Scout Willis, 34, and Tallulah Willis, 31, with ex-wife Demi Moore.Bruce, 47, is days away from being diagnosed with FTD in 2023, and was 67 years old after previously being diagnosed with aphasia.I shared how I have adapted over the years.
“I’ve had to learn to walk alongside the grief,” the former model said. “It’s always with me. I can’t shake it, but I'm going to breathe, and I'm going to be sad and all the feelings and emotions that I’m going to feel, but I am also not going to just allow it to be this one note of that.”
He added: "For me, the sadness I feel about what's happening is rooted in the deep love I have for Bruce and my family. There's so much beauty in that. And this is the truth: nobody in this world is going to escape sadness - it's a normal part of loving and living."
Sharing some of her grief in a book for maids called An Unexpected Journey, Emma shared a concept that struck her on a family trip.
“My stepdaughter Scout quotes in the book, ‘Grief is the price we pay for loving someone so deeply,’” she recalled. “And she’s right.”
Part of the way, Evelyn and Mabel share their love for their father, and Emma writes memories and memories from the time she spent with him.
"You think you never forget these things," he thought, "but you do."
As for how her husband of more than 15 years is doing today, he is still laughing and smiling, according to Emma, and still said "that glitter."
"There are just beautiful moments," she stresses, "and I don't want people to lose sight of that, because we know there's still joy in our lives with Bruce, there's still laughter."
For more of Bruce’s sweetest moments with his family, read on.
