Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Emma Heming Willis says she is wrestling with the guilt she feels for celebrating happy milestones amid her husband Bruce Willis’ debilitating dementia battle.
The model marked her 50th birthday in June but admitted she hasn’t been feeling very celebratory after the Die Hard actor was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in 2023, which has left him with limited ability to communicate.
“I have not really been in the celebratory feelings of late,” Heming Willis told Hoda Kotb on her podcast Making Space.
I always wrestle with [guilt].”
“You know, I think guilt is something that I am always carrying, but I’ve learned that it is really not helpful.”
She was undecided on whether she should celebrate her milestone birthday due to her struggles with guilt until a friend convinced her.
“I was unsure if I really wanted to do anything, but I had a friend of mine who kept sort of pushing me and saying, ‘You know what, you don’t want to miss out on your 50. You have to celebrate in some form or fashion.’
“And I really sat with that and I thought about it.
“I always go back to: what would my husband want for me?”
“And he would want me to have a big, fun bash. He would want me to celebrate my life with my friends and family. And that is sort of what I always think about when guilt of any sort comes in front of me.”
Heming Willis did end up throwing a “lovely” party with her mother and friends where they enjoyed tacos and margaritas.
“I thought, ‘You know what, I don’t want to look back and think, why didn’t I celebrate 50? It is something to celebrate,’” she said.
“I’m really happy that I did.
“We brought together my friends, some family, and it was just a really lovely, intimate night.”
“I would say about 98 per cent of the people there were Knicks fans. So that was fantastic. And it just was a great celebration.”
It comes after Heming Willis moved Willis into a separate home from his family so she could help manage his progressing condition.
“It was one of the hardest decisions that I’ve had to make so far,” the former model told ABC News in August 2025.
“But I knew, first and foremost, Bruce would want that for our daughters. You know, he would want them to be in a home that was more tailored to their needs, not his needs.”
The couple share Mabel, 14 and Evelyn, 12, together with Willis, also a father to older daughters Rumer, 37, Scout, 35, and Tallulah, 32, whom he shares with his ex-wife Demi Moore.
On July 19, Willis made a rare public appearance in Los Angeles.
The 71-year-old was photographed as a passenger inside a car driving around Studio City where he cut a relaxed figure.
While FTD is known to cause personality changes, speech problems, Heming Willis said he did not have memory issues.
