Life after his frontotemporal dementia diagnosis hasn't been easy for Bruce Willis or his family — even on days that are supposed to be a celebration. As she marked 16 years with Bruce in a sweet post on Instagram, his wife, Emma Heming, also got candid about what celebrating this milestone after receiving Bruce's diagnosis earlier this year has been like for her. According to her, anniversaries like this one and even holidays can be really "hard."
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Emma shared photos with Bruce on Instagram.
In the photos, Emma and Bruce are posing together in an embrace outdoors as both of them wear sunglasses. In her caption, she wrote, "16 years with this special man. My love and adoration for him only grows."
Though they've been together for 16 years, Bruce and Emma tied the knot in 2009, and in March, they will celebrate 15 years married.
She followed it up with a video about how she 'really feels' about the anniversary.
Gesturing to her appearance — which included sweats and a makeup-free face — Emma said "this about sums it up."
She then went on to share that she had just gotten off the phone with a friend who let her "have a good cry."
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She talked about the importance of having people she can lean on.
"It is really important to be able to have someone that you can trust with your feelings instead of just bottling them up and putting your best foot forward and just kind of soldering through stuff which I have a tendency to do," Emma said. "Holidays are hard. Anniversaries are hard. But for me this year, it’s really been about community – building a community and connection. And I just want to say that has been my lifeline and I just want to thank you for that."
There have been a lot of ups and downs in Bruce's family this year.
Although this was the year that Bruce's daughter, Rumer, welcomed her first child into the world — a baby girl named Louetta — it was also the year that the family found out that his aphasia had progressed into dementia.
They shared the news in February, along with the fact that sadly, there is no treatment for the kind of dementia Bruce has been diagnosed with.
The family seems to be spending plenty of time together.
Not only does that include the daughters that Emma and Bruce share — 11-year-old Mabel and 9-year-old Evelyn — but also Bruce's ex, Demi, and their children: Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah.
It's heartbreaking to think of what the Willis family must be going through at this time, but there's no doubt that Emma being so candid about what the experience has been like for her will help others facing similar journeys with their loved ones.
