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Happy birthday to Bruce Willis, who turns 68 today. But while the event is a joyous one, his family is struggling with dementia, Emma Willis Hemming said in an Instagram post.
It was revealed last month that Willis has frontotemporal dementia (PTD), an increasingly debilitating form of the disease.
To relieve some of the stress, Emma uses her Instagram platform to update her fans on the news Strong to die state of the actor. But today she blurted out her own emotional state.
“So today is my husband’s birthday. The morning started with crying, as you can see by the puffy eyes and snotty nose.’
She admitted it was difficult for Willis to put on a brave face in the months since his diagnosis.
“I just think it’s important to see all sides of it,” she said. “I always get that message, or people always tell me, ‘Oh, you’re so strong, I don’t know how you do it.’ I am not given a choice. I’m sorry I was. But I’m also raising two kids in this, so sometimes in our lives, we have to put on our big girl panties and get to it, and that’s what I do. But I have moments of sadness every day, every day, and I really feel it today, on his birthday.”
Emma said she got emotional when she was putting together an Instagram feed for her husband’s birthday.
“I don’t know why I do this to myself because the video is like a knife in my heart,” she admitted to fans. “But as much as I’m doing it for me, I’m doing it for you because I know how much you love my husband – don’t cry Emma – but it means so much to me, so thank you.”