Coping with a loved one's dementia diagnosis is never easy, and now, one of Bruce Willis' children is sharing how she really feels about what her family is going through. In an essay she wrote for Vogue, Tallulah admitted she thought her dad "lost interest" in her before she knew about his dementia.
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Tallulah admitted that she knew something was wrong with her dad for a 'long time.'
In her essay, 29-year-old Tallulah admitted that for a while, Bruce was exhibiting an "unresponsiveness" that she took personally.
"He had had two babies with my stepmother, Emma Heming Willis, and I thought he’d lost interest in me. Though this couldn’t have been further from the truth, my adolescent brain tortured itself with some faulty math: I’m not beautiful enough for my mother, I’m not interesting enough for my father," she wrote.
She revealed that she's been struggling for the past decade.
At the age of 20, Tallulah got sober, only to end up in a residential facility to recover from her depression five years later. Next came a battle with anorexia nervosa, which also led to a borderline personality disorder diagnosis.
"I admit that I have met Bruce’s decline in recent years with a share of avoidance and denial that I’m not proud of," she shared. "The truth is that I was too sick myself to handle it."
Now that she's healthy, she feels she can 'show up' for Bruce.
For a long time, Bruce and his family weren't sure what was causing his aphasia. Earlier this year, he received a diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, or FTD, and the aphasia was a symptom of that.
"I can savor that time, hold my dad’s hand, and feel that it’s wonderful. I know that trials are looming, that this is the beginning of grief, but that whole thing about loving yourself before you can love somebody else — it’s real," she wrote.
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Bruce still knows who Tallulah is.
And she noted that may never change, depending on the way that his FTD progresses.
"I keep flipping between the present and the past when I talk about Bruce: he is, he was, he is, he was. That’s because I have hopes for my father that I’m so reluctant to let go of," she wrote. "I’ve always recognized elements of his personality in me, and I just know that we’d be such good friends if only there were more time. He was cool and charming and slick and stylish and sweet and a little wacky — and I embrace all that."
She's focused on making sure her dad is comfortable.
"In April, my older sister Rumer had a baby girl, Louetta, and Bruce and Demi became grandparents. There’s this little creature changing by the hour, and there’s this thing happening with my dad that can shift so quickly and unpredictably. It feels like a unique and special time in my family, and I’m just so glad to be here for it," she concluded in her essay.
It's good to hear that Tallulah is embracing what is sure to be a difficult time with her family — and that she's making the most of every moment she spends with her dad.
