"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."
"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,"
"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. It's still very meaningful. It's just - it's just different. You just learn how to adapt."
Emma Heming Willis, wife and caregiver to Bruce Willis, attributes his lack of recognition of frontotemporal dementia to anosognosia, a neurological condition that prevents awareness of one's own illness. Bruce Willis received a dementia diagnosis in 2023 and has lived separately with full-time care since 2025 while the couple's two young daughters remain at home. Emma describes relief that he cannot grasp the diagnosis, calling it both a blessing and a curse. She notes that his ways of connecting with family have changed but remain meaningful, and the family has adapted to different modes of interaction and care.
Read at Vulture
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