Bruce Willis’ Wife Emma Says He ‘Doesn’t Know’ He Has Dementia: ‘He Never Connected the Dots’ (Exclusive)

Bruce Willis “never connected the dots” that he has been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, his wife Emma Heming Willis says.

PEOPLE has an exclusive first look at Emma’s conversation with Cameron Oaks Rogers on the Jan. 28 episode of her podcast, Conversations with Cam, during which Emma, 47, gave an update on her husband’s ongoing struggle — and shared that “Bruce never, never tapped in.”  

“I think that’s like the blessing and the curse of this, is that he never connected the dots that he had this disease, and I’m really happy about that. I’m really happy that he doesn’t know about it,” she shared about Bruce, 70.

Bruce — like others with similar conditions — has anosognosia, she explained. Per the Cleveland Clinic, it’s a condition where “your brain can’t recognize one or more other health conditions you have,” and is commonly seen in people with mental health disorders.  

As Emma put it, “it’s where your brain can’t identify what is happening to it,” so the Die Hard actor, and others with anosognosia, “think this is their normal.”  

“People think this might be denial, like they don’t want to go to the doctor because they’re like, ‘I’m fine, I’m fine,’ actually, this is the anosognosia that comes into play. It’s not denial. It’s just that their brain is changing. This is a part of the disease.”

The action star’s family shared that he’d been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, or FTP, in 2023. It’s a catchall term for a group of brain disorders that cause the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain to atrophy, which creates speech issues, emotional problems and changes in personality.

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Other symptoms can include loss of motor skills — problems walking, swallowing or muscle spasms. It’s a progressive disease, and it is the most common form of dementia for people under 60.

As Emma shared, Bruce is “still very much present in his body” and explained that as his dementia has progressed, “we have progressed along with him. We’ve adapted along with him.” 

“He has a way of connecting with me, our children that might not be the same as you would connect with your loved one, but it’s still very beautiful,” she shared. “It’s still very meaningful. It’s just — it’s just different. You just learn how to adapt.”