Tallulah Willis and her family took a while to catch on to Bruce Willis’ dementia when he began showing signs of the disease.
This is the first time the 29-year-old has addressed her father’s condition, and in a raw essay for Vogue she detailed how herself and her family dismissed early signs of her dad’s dementia.
“I’ve known that something was wrong for a long time,” Willis wrote.
“It started out with a kind of vague unresponsiveness, which the family chalked up to Hollywood hearing loss.”
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The actress explained how her family were under the impression that Bruce’s hearing had been affected during his time filming Die Hard.
Later, the Bandits star thought it was her father’s lack of interest in her that was sparking his unresponsiveness and “took it personally”.
“He had had two babies with my stepmother, Emma Heming Willis, and I thought he’d lost interest in me,” she admitted.
“Though this couldn’t have been further from the truth, my adolescent brain tortured itself with some faulty math: I’m not beautiful enough for my mother, I’m not interesting enough for my father.”
The kids Willis is referring to are Mabel, 11 and Evelyn, 9. Tallulah herself is one of three daughters born from Bruce’s previous marriage to Demi Moore, her siblings being Rumer, 34, and Scout, 31.
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At the time of Bruce’s decline in health, Willis herself was battling with her own health.
“The truth is that I was too sick myself to handle it,” she noted, revealing her four year struggle with anorexia nervosa.
“While I was wrapped up in my body dysmorphia, flaunting it on Instagram, my dad was quietly struggling,” she added.
The young star hid her eating disorder, suffered from depression through her twenties, and was eventually diagnosed with ADHD.
Her experience caused a numbness when it came to her dad, with the star stuck in denial about his worsening health, however as she took care of herself she realised it became easier to be present for her dad.
“All kinds of cognitive testing was being conducted, but we didn’t have an acronym yet. I had managed to give my central dad-feeling canal an epidural; the good feelings weren’t really there, the bad feelings weren’t really there.”
“I can bring him an energy that’s bright and sunny, no matter where I’ve been. In the past I was so afraid of being destroyed by sadness, but finally I feel that I can show up and be relied upon,” she said.
“I can savor that time, hold my dad’s hand, and feel that it’s wonderful.”
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Despite the star’s condition, Willis has been making the most of her time with her father.
“Every time I go to my dad’s house, I take tons of photos—of whatever I see, the state of thing. I’m like an archaeologist, searching for treasure in stuff that I never used to pay much attention to,” she wrote.
“I have every voicemail from him saved on a hard drive. I find that I’m trying to document, to build a record for the day when he isn’t there to remind me of him and of us.”
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Bruce Willis retired from acting in March 2022 and was diagnosed with “cruel” frontotemporal dementia in February.
His ex-wife, Demi Moore, moved in with Bruce and his wife earlier this year, the blended family joining efforts to take care of the beloved actor.
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