Bruce Willis hardly reflected on his career before dementia diagnosis
Actor Bruce Willis rarely thought about his legacy before his dementia diagnosis, his wife Emma Heming Willis reveals.
Hollywood legend Bruce Willis rarely thought about his illustrious career before his heartbreaking dementia diagnosis.
The 70-year-old actor - who was diagnosed with the degenerative condition that causes a decline in thinking, memory, and reasoning skills in 2022 - just wanted to focus on injecting happiness into millions of people's lives through his film and TV projects.
Bruce's 47-year-old wife Emma Heming Willis told People: "I don't know that he ever has [reflected on his legacy].
"I don't think that he's ever harped or thought long and hard about who he is, what he's done. I think he's just always enjoyed being an actor, entertaining people."
Emma - who married the Die Hard actor in a gorgeous beachfront ceremony in the Turks and Caicos Islands in 2009 - says Bruce's humble nature is a reason she fell in love with him after they met at a gym shared by their personal trainer in 2007.
She continued about Bruce being an entertainer: "He really loved it. It was a passion of his. That's why I love him. He's just always so humble. You would never know."
Bruce shot to global stardom in the 1980s when he was cast in the ABC comedy-drama series, Moonlighting, as David Addison Jr.
The award-winning star then went on to appear in major blockbusters, including the 1994 crime-thriller Pulp Fiction, the 1998 sci-fi-action movie Armageddon, and the 1999 horror-mystery film The Sixth Sense.
Bruce retired from acting in 2022, after he was diagnosed with aphasia, which later progressed to frontotemporal dementia (FTD) - a group of brain disorders affecting personality, behavior, and language.
And his 37-year-old daughter Rumer Willis recently revealed that he does not recognize his eldest child - whom he has with his 63-year-old ex-wife, actress Demi Moore - when she visits him.
Despite that, Rumer feels "so happy and grateful" to go to her dad's house and embrace him.
In a video shared to her Instagram Stories, she said: "I'm so happy and grateful that I still get to go and hug him.
"I'm so grateful that when I go over there, and I give him a hug, whether he recognizes me or not, that he can feel the love I've given him, and I can feel it back from him.
"That I still see a spark of him, and he can feel the love that I'm giving. So that feels really nice.
"I just feel grateful that I get to go over there with Louetta and we get to spend time with him, and I get to feel the love that he has for me, and that I can love him and be with him."
Rumer - who has a two-year-old daughter called Louetta - admitted Bruce is "doing OK" amid his battle with the progressive neurodegenerative disease.
Bruce has daughters Rumer, Scout Willis, 34, and Tallulah Willis, 31, with his pal Demi - whom he married in 1988, but divorced in 1998.
He has two more girls - Mabel Willis, 13, and 11 year old Evelyn Willis - with Emma.
