Bruce Willis’ wife posts heartbreaking birthday message about grief after Hollywood star’s dementia diagnosis

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Die Hard and Fast & Furious star Bruce Willis celebrated his 68th birthday on Sunday following his dementia diagnosis.

Bruce Willis was inundated with a flurry of emotional and heartbreaking messages as the Hollywood actor celebrated his birthday following his frontotemporal dementia (FTD) diagnosis. But it was wife, Emma Heming Willis, who marked the day with a touching tribute about caring for someone living with the illness.

The Die Hard action man turned 68 on Sunday (March 19) and Emma had fans in tears with her Instagram post, where she said: “I have started the morning by crying as you can see by my swollen eyes. I always get this message where people always tell me, ‘Oh you’re so strong. I don’t know how you do it.’ I’m not given a choice, I wish I was but I’m also raising two kids in this.

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“Sometimes in our lives, we have to put our big girl panties on and get to it, and that’s what I’m doing. But I do have times of sadness every day, grief every day and I’m really feeling it today on his birthday. - as much as I do it for myself, I do it for you because I know how much you love my husband.”

In a separate Instagram birthday message, which features a cute reel of footage of Bruce Willis during family holidays and caring for his kids, Emma wrote: “He is pure love, he is so loved and I’ll be loving him always. Happy Birthday my sweet.

“My birthday wish for Bruce is that you continue to keep him in your prayers and highest vibrations because his sensitive Pisces soul will feel it. Thank you so much for loving and caring for him too.”

Willis’ family, which includes all five of his children - two with Emma and three with ex-wife Demi Moore - first disclosed his FTP diagnosis in 2022. They recently posted an update on his condition in February to raise awareness of the illness, which also mentioned that the Hollywood star has been finding it challenging to communicate with others.

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