Bruce Willis’ daughter Tallulah has candidly laid bare gut-wrenching new details about the actor’s ongoing battle with the degenerative brain condition aphasia – revealing in searing detail how she knew ‘a long time ago’ that something was wrong with her father, but that she assumed he had simply ‘lost interest in her’ after the birth of his children with his second wife.
In a personal essay penned for Vogue, Tallulah, 29, recalled witnessing her father’s steady mental decline, admitting that she and her family initially blamed the 68-year-old’s ‘unresponsiveness’ on his ‘Hollywood hearing loss’.
However, as it grew more severe, she admits that she began to ‘take it personally’, writing: ‘Later that unresponsiveness broadened, and I sometimes took it 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.’
Bruce Willis’ daughter Tallulah has revealed heartbreaking new details about the actor’s bitter struggle with degenerative brain condition aphasia
The 29-year-old actress claimed the family knew something was wrong with the actor, but they “chalked his unresponsibility up” to “Hollywood hearing loss”.
Early 2022 saw Bruce’s terrible diagnosis made public; his family—including his ex-wife Demi Moore, their children, and his current wife Emma—issued a joint statement on behalf of the actor, providing specifics about his ailment.
The women said in an Instagram message posted across multiple accounts that the Hollywood icon “had been experiencing some health issues and had recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities”.
‘As a result of this and with considerable thought Bruce is leaving the career that has meant so much to him,'” the statement went on. ‘This is a very difficult period for our family; we are so grateful for your ongoing love, compassion, and support.’
Tallulah says Bruce had been ‘quietly struggling’ with his health for some time before that – during which she was herself battling anorexia, a condition she admits left her in a state of ‘avoidance and denial’ about her father’s own issues. Bruce’s condition was not shared publicly until March 2022.
‘While I was engaged in my body dysmorphia, displaying it on Instagram, my dad was quietly struggling,’ she said. Though all types of cognitive testing was under way, we lacked an acronym yet.
Tallulah admits that she broke down in tears during the father of the bride’s speech since she realized she would most likely never be able to share that same moment with her own dad. She says she had a terrible awakening to the real severity of Bruce’s condition while attending a wedding on Martha’s Vineyard.
‘Suddenly I realized that I would never get that moment, my dad speaking about me in adulthood at my wedding,’ she added. It was quite terrible. I walked outside from the dinner table, and wept in the bushes.
Tallulah now says she is focusing on enjoying as many memories with her father as possible, saying that she ‘takes a ton of pictures’ everytime she visits his house – while ensuring she saves ‘every voicemail from him on a hard drive’.
As Bruce’s condition worsened, Tallulah admitted that she thought her father had ‘lost interest in her’ after welcoming two children with second wife Emma (Bruce is seen with his ex Demi, wife Emma, and his five children)
The youngest of Bruce’s three daughters with ex-Demi, Tallulah (middle in red) claims that she started having body image problems as a tweener after being teased over her appearance.
‘I find that I’m trying to chronicle, to establish a record for the day when he isn’t here to remind me of him and of us,’ she said.
Less than a year after learning of his first aphasia diagnosis, Bruce suffered yet another terrible blow when he was informed he had frontotemporal dementia (FTD), an unusual form of the illness causing changes in behavior, personality, and language.
An aberrant accumulation of proteins damaging cells in front and sides of the brain causes FTD, which accounts for about one in 20 dementia cases.
Tallulah reveals that the Die Hard star “still knows who she is,” saying that he “lights up when she enters the room,” therefore indicating that her father’s dementia “has thankfully not affected his mobility.”
‘He might always know who I am, give or take the occasional terrible day,’ she said.
She is quite aware, though, that his aphasia “can shift so quickly and unpredictably” and that his condition will only get more serious.
She said, “I know that trials are looming, that this is the beginning of grief,” adding that she is trying to “savour the time” she has with her father while she can.
When I talk about Bruce, I keep straying between the present and the past: he is, he was, he is, he was. That is so because I am so unwilling to let go of the hopes I have for my father. I have always sensed aspects of his personality in myself, and I simply know that, should only more time allow, we would be great friends.
While her father was announcing his aphasia diagnosis publicly in early 2022, Tallulah (seen in June 2022) was herself battling anorexia
The actress (seen in July 2022) claims her weight dropped to 84 pounds by the spring of that year that she couldn’t even go on a walk without worrying about catching her breath.
She said that her father most usually resides on the ground floor of the house he shares with Emma, 44, whom he married in 2009, and their two children, Mabel Ray, 11, and Evelyn, nine.
The actress explained that Bruce spends much of his time in his office, a room that she says has ‘always been a kind of window into what he’s most interested in’, describing it as being filled with ‘knicknacks he has collected, and where there is ‘always music playing’.
Tallulah said throughout her father’s own challenges that she has personally struggled with multiple health and mental health problems over the years.
She adds that her struggle with body image started when she was a small child, remembering a moment when she, at age 11, went to an event with her mother Demi and her then-partner Ashton Kutcher only to be subjected to cruel public judgment about her appearance.
Tallulah says she was left ‘with the mute knowledge of her own ugliness,’ a concept that would linger in the back of her mind for years after spending ‘two hours’ going through the nasty remarks being written about her online.
She says she started limiting food as he was “the last vice she got to hold on to” and four years ago she was diagnosed with anorexia. She had become clean when she was 20 years old. She was admitted to an in-patient Malibu facility around the same time, at the age of 25, to receive treatment for depression and ADHD.
Tallulah remembers having a ‘unhealthy deliciousness’ when people would comment on her changing body, although she notes that their surprise over her slender figure soon turned to concern as she kept losing weight. Her loved ones reacted to her rapid weight loss.
The actress (seen in 2005) says her body image struggles began when she was just 11 years old after she read brutal criticism about her looks during a public appearance with her mother
Tallulah also admits she was “dumped” by fiancé Dillon Buss (seen following May 2021 engagement) in June and shortly after she received a diagnosis with borderline personality disorder.
Her weight had dropped to barely 84 pounds by early 2022, about the same time her father’s illness was made public. She claims she cannot even go for a stroll near her house since she was worried she would find herself out of breath and without somewhere to sit down and rest.
Now Tallulah questions what could have occurred had her father been ‘his true self’ and noticed what was going on with her, claiming she ‘likes to think he wouldn’t have let it happen’.
“If he had understood,” she recalled, “he could have snatched me up and said, “This is over now.”
Things peaked in June last year when Tallulah “dumped” her fiancé Dillon Buss, whom she had engaged in May 2021.
She says at this point that her family “stepped in” and transferred her to another in-patient hospital in Texas, where she received a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder.
She said, “By the time I left Texas, in October, I felt a lot better,” adding that although she now feels capable of being “present” in every part of her life, including her connection with her father, her recovery will “probably be lifelong”.