Emma Heming Willis, the wife of renowned actor Bruce Willis, has opened up about the complex emotions that come with navigating the holiday season. In a heartfelt reflection, she shared that joyful moments are “tangled in grief“, as the family adjusts to the reality of their new normal.
Emma Heming details Christmas preparation amid Bruce Willis’ dementia battle
Emma Heming recently bared her heart out about navigating Christmas with her husband Bruce Willis, who’s battling frontotemporal dementia (FTD). The British-American model expressed that the festive season is bittersweet, filled with memories of how things used to be, while also acknowledging the pain of watching her husband change.
In a recent blog post, Heming shared that things look different now, and it takes a lot of planning just to get through the day. The Perfect Stranger actress discussed the changes they’ve had to make to accommodate their husband’s needs after the diagnosis.
“Moments that once brought uncomplicated joy may arrive tangled in a web of grief”, she wrote. “I know this because I’m living it”. “I’ve learned that the holidays don’t disappear when dementia enters your life. They change”, she further added.
The blog also witnessed the mother of two getting Nostalgic about Bruce Willis enthusiastically celebrating the holidays before his battle with dementia. “He loved this time of year- the energy, family time, the traditions”, she recalled. “He was the pancake-maker, the get-out-in-the-snow-with-the-kids guy, the steady presence moving through the house as the day unfolded”.
Furthermore, Emma Heming urged her followers going through the same challenges to accept the reality and try to make new memories and traditions. “This holiday season, our family will still unwrap gifts and sit together at breakfast. But instead of Bruce making our favorite pancakes, I will”, she wrote on her blog.
“We’ll put on a holiday movie. There will be laughter and cuddles,” she continued, revealing her altered plans. “And there will almost certainly be tears because we can grieve and make room for joy”. “The joy doesn’t cancel out the sadness. The sadness doesn’t cancel out the joy. They coexist”, Heming’s post read.
