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Emma Heming Willis has always advocated for her husband, Bruce Willis, but now she’s ready to take it further. After pleading for paparazzi to give Bruce space, she announced in an Instagram video Tuesday, she is going to use her platform to turn her “grief,” “anger” and “sadness” into something good, by raising awareness around Frontotemporal Dementia and caregivers.
The Willis’ family revealed in February, Bruce had gotten a more specific diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD). In the recent video, Emma looked determined as she made the powerful message. “I just saw something about me getting my five minutes, which is great. Which means that you’re listening. So I’m going to take my five minutes, and I’m going to turn it into ten because I’m always going to advocate for my husband,” she said. “While I’m at it, I’m going to raise awareness around FTD and for caregivers, who are unsung heroes out there.”
The passionate model, who recently reflected on their love story, continued, saying, “I am going to turn my grief, and my anger, and my sadness and do something good around something that feels less than.”
“So, watch this space, because I didn’t come to play,” she concluded. The message had the support of Bruce’s daughter Scout LaRue, who he shares with Demi Moore, who commented, “HELL YES! I am so so proud of you!”
Emma’s emotional message comes after she spoke out against shameless paparazzi following Bruce for photos. On Saturday, she shared a video on Instagram talking about the difficulty of navigating someone with dementia safely. “If you are someone who is looking after someone who has dementia, you know how difficult and how stressful it can be just to get them out into the world and navigate them safely.”
“I’m just seeing headlines, and there’s a video of my husband out getting some coffee with some friends that did a stand-up job with protecting him,” she continued before getting emotional and stopping the video. “It’s clear that there’s a lot of education that needs to be put forth.”
She then sent a message to the “photographers and the video people” trying to get “those exclusives” of her husband out and about. “Just keep your space. I know this is your job, but maybe just keep your space. For the video people please do not be yelling at my husband asking him how he’s doing,” she added. “Just don’t do it okay? Give him the space. Allow for our family or whoever is with him that day to be able to get him from post a to point b safely.”
She shared a follow-up video thanking people for the support she had gotten for her explanation but called out some of the ironies. “What I find interesting is the outlets that are picking up the story of my plea are the same outlets that are publishing these pictures of my husband. So if there’s no market for these types of photos, then he wouldn’t be followed.” Emma also made it clear she is not trying to go “head to head” with the media, “I will lose, I’m very clear about that.” “I just want my husband to be able to participate in his life to the fullest.”