Bruce Willis' wife Emma Heming Willis blames Die Hard for his dementia symptom

Emma Heming Willis has suggested that she thought the filming of Die Hard (1988) contributed to a symptom of her husband Bruce Willis' dementia prior to his diagnosis. The actor, who is now retired, has himself previously said that there had been an "accident" on the set of the action film.

His wife's comments come following the news in 2022 that Bruce, now 70, had been diagnosed with aphasia. His family said that his cognitive abilities were affected by the condition, which can involve difficulty with communication.

It was then shared the following year that his condition had "progressed". They said that, since initial diagnosis, he had received a "more specific" one of frontotemporal dementia (FTD), which, according to the NHS, typically causes changes in behaviour or language problems initially.

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Emma, 47, has been raising awareness of FTD since then and she spoke to Fox News Digital recently ahead of releasing her new book, the Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Caregiving Path, today. It included her telling the outlet about the build-up to Bruce's diagnosis.

It's suggested that when she sensed that "something was off" with her husband, she first suspected that it was his apparent hearing loss from working on Die Hard. She said: "When Bruce was shooting the first Die Hard, he shot a gun underneath a table multiple times, and they didn't have him wear any kind of ear protection. That took out a huge percentage of his hearing. And over time, for all of us as we age, our hearing starts to go a bit."

Emma said she thought that was what was happening, recalling that she had wondered if they were having "miscommunication" and feeling as though he couldn't hear her "properly". She told the outlet that she thought his hearing was why they weren't communicating like they once did.

The outlet adds that in her book, she states that after filming Die Hard more than 30 years ago he "lost a large percentage" of his hearing in one of his ears. She however said that it didn't pose a "real problem" when they first got together.

Emma is however said to have written that over time, seemingly prior to his aphasia diagnosis, he began to "check out" whilst with his family. The outlet adds that she wondered if he was just letting his daughters have "girl talk".

Bruce previously spoke about there having been an "accident" on the set of Die Hard. Asked his most unappealing habit, he once told the Guardian in 2007: "Due to an accident on the first Die Hard, I suffer two-thirds partial hearing loss in my left ear and have a tendency to say, 'Whaaa?'"

His family have also spoken about his hearing. As reported by the Toronto Sun in 2013, Rumer Willis, now 37, who is the eldest of his three daughters with Demi Moore, suggested that he struggled in interviews and could appear awkward. Rumer said: "I think part of the problem is sometimes he can't hear ... because he shot a gun off next to his ear when he was doing Die Hard a long time ago, so he has partial hearing loss in his ears."

Tallulah Willis, 31, the youngest of his kids with ex-wife Demi, said that his family attributed "unresponsiveness" to hearing issues prior to his dementia diagnosis. Speaking about the symptoms, she told Vogue in 2023: "It started out with a kind of vague unresponsiveness, which the family chalked up to Hollywood hearing loss: 'Speak up! Die Hard messed with Dad's ears.' Later that unresponsiveness broadened [though]."

In the recent interview with Fox News Digital, Emma also spoke about other signs that she noticed. She said that Bruce had a "severe stutter" as a child but later learned to "manage" it. She however said that one of the "first signs" before his diagnosis was that his stutter was "coming back".

She added that their relationship "felt very different" too. Emma, who has two children with Bruce, said their connection and conversations "just felt off". She went on to tell the outlet that she wasn't aware that a "sort of lack of empathy" was a symptom of "young dementia".

If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at Dementia UK.

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