Bruce Willis and actress Rumer Willis attend the dedication and unveiling of a new soundstage mural celebrating 25 years of "Die Hard" at Fox Studio Lot on January 31, 2013 in Century City, California© Getty Images

Bruce Willis' daughter Rumer shares 'ecstatic' family update amid dad's heartbreaking health battle

The Die Hard actor's daughter with Demi Moore gave insight into a recent moment of joy for the Willis family

Beatriz Colon - New York
New York WriterNew York
December 3, 2023

Bruce Willis' family, amidst the heartbreaking difficulties of his frontotemporal dementia (FTD) diagnosis, have a reason to celebrate together.

The Willis family – comprised of his wife Emma Heming Willis and their daughters Mabel Ray, 11, and Evelyn Penn, eight, plus his ex-wife and good friend Demi Moore and their three daughters Rumer, 35, Scout, 32, and Tallulah, 29 – have been candid about the realities of the Die Hard actor's diagnosis since making it public last year.

While both his wife and daughters have publicly shared their heartbreak through occasional updates, Bruce's eldest daughter Rumer recently shared a much happier moment the family reveled in.

WATCH: Rumer Willis' boyfriend and dad Bruce Willis jam together

Speaking with People at the opening night of "Love Actually Live" at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles, Rumer detailed the joy that has been seeing her dad's breakout TV series, Moonlighting, make its streaming debut on Hulu.

Expressing her excitement, the House Bunny actress said: "We were ecstatic, beyond ecstatic, because we used to watch it literally on videotape."

She recalled: "My dad had a closet and all of the episodes were literally filled to the brim on videotape," adding: "So to be able to have time and not have to hunt for it on YouTube and be able to watch it all the time is such a joy."

© Getty

Moonlighting was Bruce's breakout TV role

Rumer said her dad's role has "always been one of my favorite things that he's ever done," and that in rewatching it, especially after welcoming Bruce's first granddaughter, her baby daughter Louetta with boyfriend Derek Richard Thomas, she's been able to see how much of Bruce there is in her daughter.

MORE: Rumer Willis introduces adorable new family member months after giving birth

MORE: Bruce Willis' daughter Rumer shares emotional message about 'whirlwind life' amid his dementia

The first-time mom said: "Whenever she's got a stern discerning look on her face, I just see Bruce Willis," and noted: "My dad – especially on Moonlighting – has this little side smirk, that very [mischievous] twinkle in his eye, and I see that so much in her."

© Instagram

Rumer welcomed her first daughter in April

Moonlighting aired on ABC from 1985 to 1989; Bruce starred as Detective David Addison opposite Cybill Shepherd as Maddie Hayes, who together ran the Blue Moon Detective Agency.

After all of the series' 67 episodes made their streaming debut on Hulu in October, its creator Glenn Gordon Caron told the New York Post: "I know [Bruce] is really happy that the show is going to be available for people, even though he can't tell me that," adding: "When I got to spend time with him we talked about it and I know he's excited."

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The Willis family have shared occasional updates on Bruce's condition

He further said: "The process [to get Moonlighting on Hulu] has taken quite a while and Bruce's disease is a progressive disease, so I was able to communicate with him, before the disease rendered him as incommunicative as he is now, about hoping to get the show back in front of people."

MORE: Bruce Willis' youngest daughters are so grown up as they enjoy beach day with sister Rumer

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The actor's wife Emma has been focusing on being a caretaker for him

At the time, the Hollywood writer also gave difficult insight into Bruce's condition, telling the outlet: "The thing that makes [his disease] so mind-blowing is [that] if you've ever spent time with Bruce Willis, there is no one who had any more joie de vivre than he," adding: "He loved life and… just adored waking up every morning and trying to live life to its fullest."

"My sense is the first one to three minutes he knows who I am," he explained, before revealing that Bruce "is not totally verbal," and that he is "seeing life through a screen door."

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