Demi Moore and Bruce Willis may have divorced in 2000, but over the past 24 years they have remained stalwart parts of each other's lives as they share three daughters together.
This means that even while the Die Hard actor has undergone major life changes due to his diagnosis with Frontotemporal Dementia, Demi remains a regular presence in his life.
Now, the actress is opening up about the decision to share the diagnosis with the world, and navigating the line between "privacy and secretiveness."
Demi shared with the Los Angeles Times that once Bruce was diagnosed, the family felt able to share more about what was going on.
"It took some of the tension of uncertainty and trying to bridge between privacy and secretiveness," she explained. "It is very private, but it was something that was trying to be held. So it opened up a pathway of much more ease and grace."
Famously, Bruce retired from acting in March 2022 as his family revealed he had been diagnosed with aphasia. In 2023, his condition progressed into frontotemporal dementia.
For Demi, Bruce is the first person she has known to have dementia. She aims to see him at least once a week when she's in town, and her approach to him has remained consistent: "I’m just trying to show up and be wherever he is at any given moment."
She continued: "Being present is a mutual gift in something that is obviously not what any of us would have wanted. But here we are. And he gets to spend time with his granddaughter, which is very sweet and moving. It’s magic."
Demi and the family remain candid about the actor's condition, and as she was honored with the Career Achievement in Acting Award at the Hamptons International Film Festival in October, she opened up about Bruce during a live discussion.
"You know, I've said this before," Demi said. "The disease is what the disease is. I think you have to be in real deep acceptance of what that is. But for where he's at, he is stable."
She recalled visiting her ex-husband just "two days ago," when she brought her granddaughter, Louetta — Rumer Willis' daughter — to see him.
"What I always encourage is to just meet them where they're at," Demi added. "When you're holding on to what was, I think it's a losing game. But when you show up to meet them where they're at, there is great beauty and sweetness."
"And being able to share with whatever we have, for however long we have it."