Demi Moore Confessed It Was ‘Difficult’ To Watch Bruce Willis Change As Dementia Progressed

Bruce Willis and Demi Moore were once one of Hollywood’s most beloved cou­ples. The two actors mar­ried in 1987, and for more than a decade, they shared a busy life that bal­anced block­buster careers and rais­ing a fam­i­ly. Togeth­er, they wel­comed three daugh­ters: Rumer in 1988, Scout in 1991, and Tal­lu­lah Willis in 1994. Despite the demands of fame and the inevitable pres­sures of the spot­light, Bruce and Moore often spoke about the joy they found in par­ent­ing and the respect they held for each other’s work.

By 1998, how­ev­er, the mar­riage had come to an end. Their divorce came as a sur­prise to fans, yet the for­mer cou­ple man­aged to main­tain a strong bond for the sake of their chil­dren. Over the years, they remained close friends and con­tin­ued to cel­e­brate mile­stones togeth­er, from birth­days to wed­dings. Their blend­ed fam­i­ly even­tu­al­ly expand­ed when Bruce mar­ried Emma Hem­ing Willis in 2009, and Moore was warm­ly includ­ed in many fam­i­ly gath­er­ings.

Now, as Bruce con­tin­ues to face the chal­lenges of fron­totem­po­ral demen­tia, the deep his­to­ry between him and Moore has tak­en on even more mean­ing. The actress has stayed a con­stant pres­ence in his life, offer­ing sup­port not only to their daugh­ters but also to Emma, Bruce’s wife of 15 years. Moore also joined Emma in a heart­felt con­ver­sa­tion with Oprah Win­frey about how it felt to wit­ness Bruce’s health strug­gles and what they have learned from the expe­ri­ence. Read on to learn more about Moore’s emo­tion­al reflec­tions on Bruce’s cur­rent state.  

Rumer Willis, Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, Talul­lah Willis, Scout Willis (2001), (IMAGO/Rideaux-Pic­turePer­fect)

On a mov­ing episode of “The Oprah Pod­cast,” Moore opened up about what it was like to watch Bruce live with demen­tia. Oprah asked:

“How has it been for you per­son­al­ly to watch this moment, some­one you have shared much of your life with and chil­dren with suf­fer from this dis­ease?”

Moore respond­ed:

“It’s dif­fi­cult. It’s hard to see some­body who was so vibrant and strong and so direct­ed shift into this oth­er parts of them­self.”

Moore also shared one per­spec­tive of hers that has brought her com­fort.

“My par­tic­u­lar per­spec­tive is, one, I real­ly always say it’s so impor­tant just to meet them where they’re at. Don’t have an expec­ta­tion of them need­ing to be who they were or who you want them to be. And when you do that I find that there is an incred­i­ble sweet­ness and some­thing that’s soft and ten­der and lov­ing. Per­haps it is more play­ful and child­like in a cer­tain sense because of how much more care­tak­ing they need,” she said.

For Moore, the key was to stay present.

“The most impor­tant thing for me is show­ing up in being present,” she explained, adding, “if you project where it’s going, it only cre­ates anx­i­ety.” She also praised Bruce’s wife.

“I have so much com­pas­sion for Emma,” Moore said, describ­ing Emma as “mas­ter­ful” in the way she has cared for Bruce and empha­siz­ing the need for care­givers to look after them­selves as well.

“There is no road map for how to deal with this,” she added, acknowl­edg­ing that “so much fell on Emma to real­ly fig­ure this whole thing out.”

Moore’s words were filled with accep­tance and grace.

“If you replay where it was and what you’ve lost, it only cre­ates anx­i­ety and grief,” she reflect­ed. “So when you stay present, there is so much – and there’s still so much of him there. And it may not always be ver­bal, but it is beau­ti­ful, giv­en the givens.”