Demi Moore Has ‘Vowed’ to Stay by Ex Bruce Willis’ Side: ‘Her Heart Aches’ Amid His Illness
More than two years ago, Bruce Willis’ loved ones bravely shared news of the movie star’s heartbreaking health crisis with the world. In 2022, they announced he’d retired from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, a brain disorder that robs a person of their ability to communicate. Another devastating diagnosis — frontotemporal dementia — followed less than a year later.
In recent months, a source exclusively confirms to In Touch, things have only been getting worse. “Bruce’s dementia is progressing,” says the insider, leaving his family to make peace with what’s to come.
Second wife Emma Heming is Bruce’s loving and devoted primary caretaker. But nearly 24 years after their divorce, ex-wife Demi Moore, too, remains a constant presence in his life.
“Demi has vowed to stay by his side. Her heart aches as he struggles with this horrible disease,” explains the source, who says Demi wants to support the Sixth Sense actor and their blended family — Emma, 46, and her girls, Mabel, 12, and Evelyn, 10, plus the three adult daughters Demi shares with Bruce: Rumer, 35, Scout, 33, and Tallulah, 30. “Demi knows that time is slipping away.”
Bruce Willis and Demi Moore’s Unbreakable Bond
The 69-year-old “has good days and bad,” says the source. “He has speech impairments and can’t speak much at all. These days, his family senses what he’s saying, what he needs by a look.”
But Bruce’s condition has progressed to the point that he no longer recognizes some people, including Demi, 61. Despite the challenges, “She sees him at least once a week,” shares the source. “She will never abandon him or let him down.”
Their epic love story began 35 years ago. They met at a 1987 movie screening when her relationship with Brat Pack actor Emilio Estevez, 62, was on its last legs. Within weeks of ending her engagement to her St. Elmo’s Fire costar, Demi began seeing Bruce. A whirlwind four-month courtship led to a Las Vegas wedding and the birth of their first child nine months later.
But tensions soon permeated their baby bliss. In her 2019 memoir, Inside Out, Demi painted Bruce as controlling and unhappy with her decision to work — the Striptease star became the world’s highest-paid actress in the ’90s — instead of being a stay-at-home mom when their girls were young.
Bruce later admitted he struggled after their 1998 split and 2000 divorce: “I felt I had failed as a father and a husband by not being able to make it work.”
While their romantic feelings faded, the love endured. “I still love Demi,” Bruce confessed in the wake of their breakup, admitting, “We’re probably as close now as we ever were. ... Our friendship continues.”
He reiterated the sentiment after marrying Emma in 2009, saying of Demi, “I still love her, and I have a lot of respect for how she lives her life.” It was the same for Demi, who wrote, “We felt more connected than we did before the divorce.”
They set a new standard for a healthy Hollywood split. “Bruce and Demi were equally committed to remaining a family forever as coparents. Their kids grew up in this healthy environment even when their parents remarried,” says the source, noting that Bruce was there when Demi exchanged vows with future ex-husband Ashton Kutcher, 46, in 2005. Demi supported Bruce as he married Emma in 2009. “It only meant their family had expanded and there were more people to love and embrace.”
Bruce Willis’ Family Is Facing Reality
Bruce’s family has been preparing for the inevitable. Last fall, Tallulah described his form of dementia as “aggressive,” while old friend and Moonlighting creator Glenn Gordon Caron revealed the action star was “not totally verbal” anymore. “All those language skills are no longer available to him.”
It was as if, Glenn explained, the Emmy and Golden Globe winner “now sees life through a screen door. ... When you’re with him you know that he’s Bruce and you’re grateful that he’s there, but the joie de vivre is gone.”
Demi’s been doing her best to enjoy every moment they have left. “When you let go of who they’ve been or who you think they [should be], or who even you would like them to be, you can then really stay in the present and take in the joy and the love that is present,” she told Andy Cohen of coping as the Bruce she knew disappeared.
For her part, Emma has admitted it’s “hard to know” if Bruce is aware of his condition. But as she wrote in an essay last fall, though she’s been facing “grief, loss and immense sadness... I have hope in how our entire family can find joy in the small things, and in coming together to celebrate all the moments life has to offer.”
They joyfully celebrate every holiday, birthday and anniversary with Bruce, knowing it could be his last. “No one wants to talk about it, but the reality is the day is coming when Bruce won’t be around,” says the source.
According to the National Institute on Aging, the typical life expectancy for someone living with his illness is six to eight years, though some medical sources note it can be as short as two years.
As Bruce celebrated his most recent birthday in March, the women in his life took to social media to share what he means to them. Demi wrote, “[We] are so grateful for you.” Rumer called Bruce “the funniest, most tender, charming, out of this world silly talented and magical papa.” Scout praised him as “a tender, moody, beautiful, very Piscean man whose depth of love for his family can only be felt, not articulated.” And Emma said “being wrapped in his arms is the safest place in this whole wide world.”
Now, as his health continues to decline, they want him to feel safe. “The whole family,” says the source, “has pledged to do whatever it takes to make sure Bruce is comfortable and surrounded by love.”
