Bruce Willis’s wife says it’s ‘hard to know’ if he is aware of his dementia condition

Published

2 years ago

September 25, 2023

admin

Bruce Willis’s wife has opened up for the first time about her husband’s dementia, revealing it was unclear whether the actor was aware of his own condition.

Emma Heming Willis told the Today show on NBC it was “hard to know” if her husband knew of his aphasia – a condition affecting his cognitive abilities.

She said the actor’s dementia had been “hard on the family” since he was diagnosed more than a year ago.

“What I’m learning is that dementia is hard,” she said. “It’s hard on the person diagnosed, it’s also hard on the family.

“That is no different for Bruce, or myself or our girls. And when they say that this is a family disease, it really is.”

The model, who has been married to the Die Hard star since 2009, said she was now a “care partner” and that the disease was spoken about as part of an “open and honest household”.

She said: “The most important thing was to be able, for us, to say what the disease was, explain what it is, because when you know what the disease is from a medical standpoint it sort of all makes sense.

“It was important that we let [our daughters] know what it is because I don’t want there to be any stigma or shame attached to their dad’s diagnosis or any form of dementia.”

The couple have two young daughters, Evelyn and Mabel, and Willis, 68, has three adult daughters with his first wife and actress, Demi Moore.

Emma Heming Willis opened up during World FTD (frontotemporal dementia) Awareness Week.

She said his diagnosis was a “blessing and a curse”, explaining that “just being in the know” of what was happening “made it a little bit easier… [but didn’t] make it any less painful”.

“Honestly, he is the gift that keeps on giving. Love. Patience. Resilience. So much and he’s teaching me and our whole family. For me to be out here doing this, this is not my comfort zone. This is the power of Bruce,” she said.

The 45-year-old said it was important to ask for “help and support” and care partners should “look after themselves” so they can be the best care partner for the person they are caring for.

On her daughters’ experience, she added how the situation was “teaching them how to care and love” and that it was a “beautiful thing amongst the sadness”.

FTD is thought to account for less than one in 20 of all dementia cases.

It is named for the parts of the brain it affects – the frontal and temporal lobes and causes changes to personality, behaviour, language and movement.

As with other forms of dementia, the onset of the disease is slow to begin with but gradually gets worse.

There is currently no cure for FTD, but there are medicines, therapies and memory activities that can help control some of the symptoms.

The average survival time after symptoms start is between eight and 10 years.

Willis came to national attention alongside Cybill Shepherd in the 1980s TV hit Moonlighting.

His first big film role was as John McClane in the smash hit Die Hard in 1988. He went on to star in movies including Pulp Fiction, 12 Monkeys and The Sixth Sense.

Over four decades he starred in more than 100 films, which have amassed over $5bn (£4.17bn) at the box office worldwide.

US

Hundreds of Texan National Guard troops arrive at army base near Chicago

Published

3 hours ago

October 8, 2025

admin

Hundreds of Texan National Guard troops arrive at army base near Chicago

Hundreds of National Guard soldiers from Texas have arrived at an army facility outside Chicago, as part of Donald Trump’s threat to deploy troops targeting Democratic-led cities.

On Sunday, the US president ordered the deployment of 300 National Guard soldiers to America’s third-largest city, prompting a strong response from local protestors and politicians.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has accused Mr Trump of using troops as “political props” and “pawns”.

On Monday, Illinois’ attorneys failed in a legal attempt to block their deployment, which they labelled “illegal, dangerous and unconstitutional”.

‘Ready to go’

“The elite Texas National Guard are on the ground and ready to go,” said Greg Abbott, Republican governor of Texas, in a post on X.

“They are putting America first by ensuring that the federal government can safely enforce federal law.”

Armed Border Patrol agents have been making arrests in an immigration crackdown that began last month, targeting immigrant-heavy and largely Latino areas, which has prompted a series of protests.

In September, in a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump shared an AI-generated image of himself as a military officer in the movie Apocalypse Now, with the title changed to “Chipocalypse Now” over flames and the city skyline.

The post – a screenshot from X – said: “‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning…’.

‘Aggressive overreach’

Officials in Will County, southwest of Chicago, said they were not warned by the federal government about the deployment at the US Army Reserve Centre in Elwood.

“The arrival of the National Guard by the Trump Administration is an aggressive overreach. Our federal government moving armed troops into our community should be alarming to everyone,” said Will County’s executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant.

National Guard troops are state-based militia who normally answer to local governors and are often deployed in response to natural disasters.

While the military’s role in enforcing domestic laws is limited, Mr Trump has said he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to dispatch active duty military in states that are unable to put down an insurrection or are defying federal law.

The National Guard’s exact mission in Illinois was not immediately clear, although the Trump administration has an aggressive immigration enforcement operation, and protesters have frequently rallied at an immigration building outside Chicago in Broadview.

The president repeatedly has described Chicago in hostile terms, calling it a “hell hole” of crime, although police statistics show significant drops in most crimes, including murders.

Following Mr Trump’s earlier deployment of troops to Los Angeles and Washington DC, he has also ordered soldiers to Portland, Oregon, which he has described as a “war zone”.

None have been deployed there yet, as a legal battle between his administration and Oregon is waged in the courts.

Local Democratic governor Tina Kotek has insisted there is “no insurrection” in the state.

The US president has defied staunch opposition from Democratic mayors and governors, who say his claims of lawlessness and violence do not reflect reality.

However, troops are also being sent to Memphis, where they would be welcomed by Tennessee’s Republican Governor Bill Lee. He said they will “play a critical support role” for local law enforcement.

US

Three people critical after helicopter crash in California

Published

1 day ago

October 7, 2025

admin

Three people critical after helicopter crash in California

Three people have been critically injured after a helicopter crash in Sacramento, according to the Californian city’s fire department.

Images from the scene show a medical helicopter lying upside down on the eastbound lanes of Highway 50.

The helicopter had taken a patient to a hospital and was returning to the place it had been dispatched from when it experienced an “in-air emergency” just after 7pm local time (3am UK time), according to Captain Justin Sylvia, from the Sacramento Fire Department.

He said there were a pilot, nurse, and paramedic on board at the time of the crash, who were taken to local hospitals in “critical condition”. Mr Sylvia said the crew consisted of two women and one man.

One of the women was trapped underneath the helicopter, with civilians on the highway helping the fire department to lift part of the helicopter out of the way to free the victim and get her into an ambulance.

“It took every ounce of all approximately 15 people to move that aircraft up just enough to get her out,” Mr Sylvia said at a news conference.

He added: “There’s a pretty large debris field around that at this point. The lucky portion for us, I’d say, is the fact that the helicopter did not catch on fire.”

No vehicles were involved in the crash and no one on the highway was injured, Mr Sylvia said, adding that this was “mind-blowing” given that the helicopter crashed in the centre of the road.

“People reported that they basically saw the helicopter kind of going down quickly. So all the traffic slowed down,” he explained.

Sacramento City councilwoman Lisa Kaplan said she was on a ride-along with local law enforcement responding to the crash.

She described plumes of white smoke coming out of the crashed helicopter.

“It’s really sombering and sobering. I am up flying with sheriff pilots that do this day in and day out. And it really makes you grateful for every day and grateful for our officers and our medical pilots,” she said.

The road is expected to be closed for an extended time, according to Officer Michael Harper, a spokesperson for the California Highway Patrol.

“The cause of the crash is still under investigation,” his colleague, Officer Mike Carillo, added.

The helicopter appears to belong to REACH Air Medical Services, which confirmed to ABC7 that three of its crew were hurt in the crash.

The Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

US

US Supreme Court rejects appeal request from Ghislaine Maxwell

Published

2 days ago

October 6, 2025

admin

US Supreme Court rejects appeal request from Ghislaine Maxwell

The US Supreme Court has rejected an appeal request from Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned ex-girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, over her criminal conviction.

Maxwell was sentenced in June 2022 to 20 years in prison after being convicted in December 2021 on sex trafficking charges.

Her lawyers argued she never should have been tried or convicted for her role in luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein.

The nine justices declined to take up a case that would have drawn renewed attention to the sexual-abuse saga.

US President Donald Trump and his administration, which urged the court not to accept the case, have been condemned for refusing to publicly release all the files from Epstein’s case.

Maxwell was moved from a low-security federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas after she was interviewed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in July.

As usual, the justices on the highest court in the US did not explain why they turned down the appeal.

Maxwell’s legal team argued she shouldn’t have faced prosecution because of a deal that Epstein, who took his own life while in prison in 2019, made with federal prosecutors in Miami.

The 2007 agreement protected his “potential co-conspirators” from federal charges anywhere in the country, they said.

Maxwell was prosecuted in Manhattan, and the federal appeals court there ruled that the prosecution was proper.

A jury found her guilty of sex trafficking a teenage girl, among other charges.

Maxwell was given limited immunity when Mr Blanche interviewed her over the summer, allowing her to speak freely without fear of prosecution for anything she said except for in the event of a false statement.

She repeatedly denied seeing any sexually inappropriate interactions involving Mr Trump, according to records released in August meant to distance the president from the disgraced financer.

Epstein was arrested in 2019 on sex trafficking charges and was accused of sexually abusing dozens of teenage girls.

A month later, he was found dead in a New York jail cell in what investigators described as a suicide.

Maxwell’s move to a lower security facility was criticised by the family of Epstein abuse survivor Virginia Giuffre, who died in April, and accusers Annie and Maria Farmer.

Describing Maxwell as a “sexual predator who physically assaulted minor children on multiple occasions”, they said in a statement the transfer “smacks of a cover up. The victims deserve better”.

When it announced in July that no additional documents from the investigation would be released, the US Justice Department declared that Epstein had killed himself, despite conspiracy theories to the contrary.

A “client list” that US Attorney General Pam Bondi had intimated was on her desk did not actually exist, the department said.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News App. You can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.