Bruce Willis has ‘painful days’ amid dementia battle, daughter Tallulah says
Tallulah Willis is getting candid about her dad Bruce Willis’ battle with frontotemporal dementia.
The 30-year-old shared an update on her father’s condition during a Wednesday appearance on Today, after Hoda Kotb mentioned Tallulah’s touching first-person piece for Vogue in 2023.
“I have hopes for my father that I’m so reluctant to let go of,” the “Bandits” actress wrote in the personal essay. “I’ve always recognized elements of his personality in me, and I just know that we’d be such good friends if only there were more time.”
Kotb admitted the sentiment touched her before inquiring about how the 69-year-old is doing amid his health battle.
“He’s stable which, in this situation, is good,” Tallulah shared. “It’s hard. There’s painful days but there’s so much love. And it’s really shown me to not take any moment for granted and I really do think that we’d be best friends. I think he’s very proud of me.”
Along with Tallulah, Bruce shares daughters Rumer, 36, and Scout, 33, with ex-wife Demi Moore.
And the “Substance” actress, 61, has given Tallulah good advice for navigating her dad’s disease.
“You have to be in the moment, you have to be present,” she recounted.
Bruce’s family, including wife Emma Heming Willis, announced his diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, which can cause communication difficulties, in February 2023 at age 67.
In August, Tallulah told People that the “Die Hard” actor was “doing the same in terms of the last we kind of updated, which I’m told is good. But whatever kind of day it is, my family and I meet him where he’s at.”
She also got candid on her own diagnosis of autism.
“I was misdiagnosed for many years — I was diagnosed at 29 — which is very common for adult women. It felt very new for me so it’s only been in the last year that I’m learning what all the terms are and regulating,” she explained on Today.
“It was very emotional. It was [a] relief. If I’m being honest, I really hated myself and I thought I was very broken,” Tallulah continued. “So, to learn that the elements of myself that I felt were maladies or wrong or just too much for this world are actually okay and they just require maybe a little bit more tools. It gave me more grace for myself.”
These days, the California resident has spent the past year raising awareness and becoming a voice for the community.
“I’ve had eyes on me since I was a baby. So it was very important for me to utilize that platform to talk about it,” confessed Tallulah. “I wasn’t sure how I was going to talk about it … but I always knew I felt a responsibility to reallymake that mean something because there are so many people similar to me who are struggling.”