"I didn't know where to go, what to look up, I'm looking things up and it's freaking me out," Emma Hemming Wills admitted of researching husband Bruce Willis' degenerative condition in the early days following his FTD diagnosis.
Emma Heming Willis admittedly had a difficult time grappling with her husband Bruce Willis‘ frontotemporal dementia diagnosis at first.
During the latest episode of Emma’s Make Time To Connect YouTube series, the 45-year-old mom and model spoke to the founders of the Remember Me podcast, Maria Kent Beers and Rachael Martinez, who both cared for a parent with FTD.
While speaking to the pair, Emma recalled discovering the podcast in the early days following Bruce’s diagnosis.
Back in February, Emma, along with other members of Bruce’s family revealed that the 68-year-old actor would be stepping back from his career amid his diagnosis with the degenerative condition.
“I didn’t know where to go, what to look up, I’m looking things up and it’s freaking me out,” Emma admitted.
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Thanking Beers and Martinez for offering her a connection to other families who have a loved one with the disease, Emma said she started to find a way forward after listening to the podcast.
“There wasn’t a lot [of information about FTD] but you guys popped up,” she told the pair. “I started listening and I felt like, ‘Oh my gosh I’m so grateful to hear other people’s stories.”‘
Emma also shared that she’s turned to other caregivers during this trying time, telling listeners that it’s been a source of comfort and support to have people around “who just get it.”
“There’s nothing that levels the playing field like FTD. And I have made some of the greatest connections with other care partners, people like you who just get it,” she told the pair. “There doesn’t have to be so much explanation.”
Emma continued, “You guys have been so helpful to me. I want to say thank you.”
Bruce Willis' Daughters Praise Emma Heming After Emotional Dementia Update
While she didn’t tear up, the conversation was still an emotional one, with the mother of two stressing just how much it’s meant to have these lifelines amid Bruce’s condition.
“I’m surprised I’m not crying because that’s where I go to when I think of people who have been that lifeline for me,” she added.
Emma’s latest comments come just weeks after she gave her first interview since Bruce’s dementia diagnosis.
“Dementia is hard,” Emma said during her Today show appearance last month. “It’s hard on the person diagnosed, it’s also hard on the family. And that is no different for Bruce, or myself, or our girls. When they say this is a family disease, it really is.”
Bruce Willis' Wife Emma Says It's 'Hard to Know' If the Actor Is Aware of His Condition
Emma, who appeared on the morning show to help kick off World Frontotemporal Dementia Awareness Week, said it’s often “hard to know” if the Die Hard actor is aware of what he’s going through.
Calling the diagnosis a “blessing and a curse,” Emma said as it’s allowed her to better understand and accept what her husband has been going through.
She added, “It doesn’t make it any less painful, but just being in the acceptance and just being in the know of what is happening to Bruce makes it a little bit easier.”
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