Bruce Willis' wife Emma gets candid about feeling 'heaviness' in her heart as she celebrates 17th anniversary
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Bruce Willis' wife Emma Heming Willis used her Instagram platform to mark the couple's anniversary on Sunday.
The 46-year-old model and actress — who wed Willis, 69, in March 2009 — posted a single throwback snapshot of the two for the heartfelt post.
Bruce and Emma were thigh-deep in the ocean in the silhouetted picture, which showed the sun setting behind them.
'17 years of us ❤️,' the mother-of-two began the caption, tagging Turks and Caicos.
It comes as Bruce has been battling dementia, specifically aphasia, since March 2022 when he was officially diagnosed.
The note from Emma continued, 'Anniversaries used to bring excitement — now, if I’m honest, they stir up all the feelings, leaving a heaviness in my heart and a pit in my stomach.'
Bruce Willis' wife Emma Heming Willis used her Instagram platform to mark the couple's anniversary on Sunday; pictured in October
The 46-year-old model and actress - who wed Willis, 69, in March 2009 - posted a single throwback snapshot of the two for the heartfelt post
Heming Willis candidly wrote in Sunday's post, 'I give myself 30 minutes to sit in the ‘why him, why us,’ to feel the anger and grief.
'Then I shake it off and return to what is. And what is… is unconditional love. I feel blessed to know it, and it’s because of him. I’d do it all over again and again in a heartbeat.'
Emma and Bruce share daughters Mabel, 12, and Evelyn, 10.
Earlier this year Emma explained why she has chosen not to shield her husband's diagnosis from their children.
Heming told Katie Couric in the October issue of Town & Country Magazine that she has 'never tried to sugarcoat' Willis' illness, noting their daughters have witnessed his decline over the years.
'This disease is misdiagnosed, it's missed, it's misunderstood, so finally getting to a diagnosis was key so that I could learn what frontotemporal dementia is and I could educate our children,' the star said.
'I've never tried to sugarcoat anything for them. They've grown up with Bruce declining over the years. I'm not trying to shield them from it,' she added.
Opening up even more about how the family is coping, Emma continued, 'What I learned from our therapist [is] that if children ask questions, they're ready to know the answer. If we could see that Bruce was struggling, I would address it with the kids so they could understand, but this disease is chronic, progressive and terminal.'
She added that she doesn't 'like to speak about the terminal side of this with them, nor have they asked' but that their girls 'know that Daddy's not going to get better.'
'Doing selfies before they had a name,' Emma captioned an October 16 Instagram post
Emma and Bruce share daughters Mabel, 12, and Evelyn, 10
Bruce pictured with daughter Rumer, ex-wife Demi Moore, daughter Scout, Emma, and daughter Tallulah in 2019
Before starting a family with his current wife, Bruce was wed to Demi Moore from 1987-2000.
They share daughters Rumer, 36, Scout, 33, and Tallulah, 30.
In September, Moore, 62, gave an update on her ex-spouse's condition while appearing on The Drew Barrymore Show, sharing that 'given the givens, he is in a stable place.'
The silver screen icon opened up about how she helps their three daughters face Bruce's heartbreaking diagnosis.
'What I say to my kids is you meet [him] where [he's] at,' Moore said in the appearance. 'You don't hold on to who [who he was] or what you want [him] to be, but who [he is] in this moment.'
'And from that, there is such beauty and joy and loving and sweetness. When I'm in LA, I go over every week, and I really treasure the time that we all share,' she added.
