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Tallulah Willis has shared a sweet photo of her dad Bruce amid his dementia diagnosis and care.
The 71-year-old Die Hard star was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in 2023, after initially being diagnosed with aphasia the previous year. The progressive neurological condition affects the brain’s frontal and temporal lobes and can cause changes in behavior, communication, speech and movement.
Bruce has stepped back from the spotlight following his diagnosis and has only been photographed on occasion, most recently at Tallulah’s August wedding to musician Justin Acee.
But on Monday, Tallulah posted a photo of her planting a kiss on her father’s head. She wore black sunglasses and a plaid shirt and embraced Bruce while cradling the back of his head.
Tallulah captioned the photo simply: “so cute!”
Bruce wore a white patterned button-down shirt and had his eyes closed for the photo.
The photo followed Bruce’s rare public appearance at Tallulah’s wedding.
There, he was captured in a Vogue photo series, embracing his daughter while clasping hands with his new son-in-law.
Tallulah wrote in a caption: “A tender moment with my dad and Justin at the start of wedding weekend.”
Bruce has largely kept a low profile since his dementia diagnosis. In January, his wife Emma Heming Willis said that the actor “doesn’t know” that he has the degenerative disease, as one of the neurological symptoms includes anosognosia, which prevents a person from accurately recognizing their own illness.
Tallulah, 32, is the youngest of the star’s three daughters with his former wife Demi Moore. Her elder sisters are Rumer, 37, and Scout, 35.
Emma married the Die Hard actor in 2009, with the couple now parents to daughters Mabel, 14, and Evelyn, 12.
She recently told the MS NOW talk series Because We Care with Richard Lui that she and Bruce continue to have “so many beautiful moments of joy and connection.”
“I think that’s really important to share because I think there’s such a negative narrative around dementia,” Emma said in a preview clip of the interview published by Entertainment Weekly.
She continued: “We need to be careful and reframe that. When we think about that or don’t want to talk about dementia and put it in a corner, the person living with the disease and their caregiver aren’t seen, they aren’t supported.”
Emma said in the clip that she feels “it’s important to know that it’s hard and it’s a terrible disease, but we have so many moments of joy and connection that aren’t your norm, but it’s okay.”
She said the family has “learned to adapt and show up for Bruce.”
