“This was astoundingly incredibly gorgeous!!! I feel a mama pride and she is not even mine!”
Rumer Willis is opening up about her father’s ongoing battle with dementia.
On Nov. 20, the 37-year-old daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore answered a series of questions during an Instagram “ask me anything” where nothing was “off limits” — even her dad’s health.
When one fan asked how her dad was doing, Rumer shared an honest but touching response.
“It’s kind of a hard one to answer because the truth is anybody with FTD is not doing great, but he’s doing okay in terms of somebody who’s dealing with frontotemporal dementia,” she said in a video reply.
Rumer Willis’ dad retired in 2022 after his family announced he was diagnosed with aphasia, a language disorder that makes it difficult to communicate, understand, read and write, per the Cleveland Clinic.
The “Pulp Fiction” actor was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) the following year.
According to the Mayo Clinic, FTD “is an umbrella term for a group of brain diseases that mainly affect the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain,” which are associated with personality, behavior and language.
During her AMA, Rumer admitted that the normal “parameters” for how someone’s doing don’t really apply to her father, which is why she always struggles to find the right answer when asked about him.
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She did, however, go on to reveal some of the things she’s grateful for despite his health battle.
“I’m so happy and grateful that I still get to go and hug him,” she said of her father — who recently moved into a second home not far from where his wife, Emma Heming Willis, and young daughters live.
“I’m so grateful that when I go over there and 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,” she continued.
Rumer said she can “still see a spark” of her father during her visits with him.
“He can feel the love that I’m giving, so that feels really nice,” she added. “I just feel grateful that I get to go over there with Louetta (her 2-year-old daughter) and we get to spend time with him.”
Emma Heming Willis says Bruce Willis is ‘on stable ground’
Rumer’s comments came one day before Emma Heming Willis shared an update on her husband.
In an interview with USA Today at the End Well Summit — an annual event dedicated to transforming the culture and experience of the end of life — Heming Willis said her husband is “on stable ground.”
"That is the the anxiety, right? Like, when will the next shoe drop? But I know that when/if it does, we'll be ready," the 47-year-old, who shares two daughters — Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11 — with Bruce, said.
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"It doesn't make it any less painful or hard to walk through," she said of being ready for anything, "but right now, we're on stable ground."
Heming Willis went on to admit that she hasn’t yet prepared her daughters for Bruce’s death — but that day might come soon.
"The girls are educated on FTD, I think that if they are to ask, I will tell them, but I think that they're more focused on present day, that is where their questioning is mostly,” she told USA Today.
“But if it's asked, I will always be honest and truthful,” she continued.
Her comments echo what she said in an Oct. 29 interview with “Town & Country.”
“If children ask questions, they’re ready to know the answer,” she said of her therapist’s advice. “If we could see that Bruce was struggling, I would address it with the kids so they could understand.”
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“Obviously, I don’t like to speak about the terminal side of this with them, nor have they asked,” she said, adding that the disease is “chronic, progressive, and terminal.”
