Oscar-nominated actress Demi Moore has praised Bruce Willis’ second wife as she faces a backlash for placing the former action star in a separate home.
Emma Heming Willis, who married the Die Hard and Sixth Sense star on a beach in 2009, gave a rare personal update on her husband’s frontotemporal dementia in an interview with journalist Diane Sawyer for a TV special titled Emma and Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey.
Among the many insights, she revealed that she has placed Willis, 70, in a separate home from her and their daughters, which she said was a difficult decision but one he would want her to make.
“He would want them to be in a home that was more tailored to their needs, not his needs,” Heming Willis told Sawyer.
Willis shares meals daily with his wife and their daughters in his home, where he lives with the assistance of a full-time care team.
The news of the former Hollywood superstar’s living arrangements sparked online anger from some fans who accused his wife of failing in her duties.
Moore, who was married to Willis from 1987 to 2000, defended Heming Willis as a dedicated carer.
“I have so much compassion for Emma in this, being a young woman,” Moore said of Hemming Willis in an interview played on The Oprah Podcast.
“There’s no way that anybody could have anticipated where this was going to go. And I really think she’s done a masterful job. She has been so dedicated to forging the right path. She’s had equal amounts of fear and strength and courage in navigating this,” she said.
Willis married Hemming Willis – a successful model and entrepreneur – almost a decade after divorcing Moore.
Willis, who has three children with Moore, expanded his family with two more daughters with Hemming Willis.
The TV special is timed to coincide with the upcoming release of Heming Willis’s book The Unexpected Journey, which she says was “born from grief, shaped by love” and written with the aim of offering insight and support for other caregivers.
“[Heming Willis can see] the importance for caregivers and that they have to take care of themselves,” Moore said.
“If they don’t put that time into making sure that they’re OK, then they can’t show up for anyone else.”
Willis was initially diagnosed with aphasia in 2022, and retired from acting. A year later, his family released a statement saying his condition has progressed and they had a more specific diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD).
Dementia Australia describes FTD as a brain condition causing progressive damage to either or both the frontal or temporal lobes of the brain, noting that it typically affects people aged between 45 and 65 and there is no cure.
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