This post has been updated since it was originally posted on 06/23/2023.
Bruce Willis’s daughter, Tallulah, has given yet another update on her father’s health battle on The Drew Barrymore Show. Bruce Willis was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in February of this year, and his family has been sharing how he’s doing ever since. This time, Tallulah shared some good news: “he is the same, which I think in this regard I’ve learned is the best thing you can ask for.”
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She continued, talking about the different ways she's connecting with her father now that he is less verbal than he used to be. "A part of what's been a really beautiful way for me to heal through this is becoming like an archeologist to my dad's world, to his little trinkets and doo-dads," she shared.
"I see love when I'm with him, and it's my dad and he loves me, which is really special," she added.
This is not the first time Tallulah's spoken publicly about her father's health battle. The 29-year-old, who Bruce shares with ex-wife Demi Moore, has opened up about struggling to come to terms with the diagnosis in a personal essay for Vogue, as told to Rob Haskell, which was published on May 31st.
Tallulah Willis gives an update on Bruce Willis on The Drew Barrymore Show
Tallulah as well as the rest of her family has been very open about sharing the different aspects of Bruce's disease, and Drew wanted to know where they find that strength. "If we can take something that we're struggling with as a family to help other people, to turn it around to make something beautiful about it, that's really special for us," Tallulah explained.
Tallulah Willis Discusses Bruce Willis' Diagnosis In 'Vogue'
"I keep flipping between the present and the past when I talk about Bruce: he is, he was, he is, he was. That’s because I have hopes for my father that I’m so reluctant to let go of," Tallulah said, before telling the pub about the first signs of her father's illness.
"I’ve known that something was wrong for a long time," she confessed. "It started out with a kind of vague unresponsiveness, which the family chalked up to Hollywood hearing loss: 'Speak up! Die Hard messed with Dad's ears.' Later that unresponsiveness broadened, and I sometimes took it personally."
Tallulah explained that she initially thought her father, 68, had "lost interest" in her, as he had two other children with his new wife, Emma Heming Willis. "Though this couldn’t have been further from the truth," she continued, "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."
Tallulah Willis Discusses Her Own Health Struggles: ADHD, BPD And Anorexia Nervosa
Tallulah discussed her ADHD and Borderline Personality Disorder diagnoses, as well as her struggles with anorexia nervosa, explaining that her own health battles were preventing her from properly handling her father's diagnosis. However, Tallulah explained that she is now doing "a lot better" after spending time at a recovery center in Texas, and now has "the tools to be present in all facets of my life, and especially in my relationship with my dad."
"I admit that I have met Bruce’s decline in recent years with a share of avoidance and denial that I’m not proud of. The truth is that I was too sick myself to handle it," she recalled. "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. But I remember a moment when it hit me painfully." She went on to recall breaking down in tears at a wedding, after watching the bride's father give an emotional speech and realizing that she will never get to experience that moment.
"I was at a wedding in the summer of 2021 on Martha’s Vineyard, and the bride’s father made a moving speech," she recalled. "Suddenly I realized that I would never get that moment, my dad speaking about me in adulthood at my wedding. It was devastating. I left the dinner table, stepped outside, and wept in the bushes."
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Tallulah Explains How She Is Making The Most Of Her Time With Her Father
Tallulah then went on to say that she is actively trying to make the most of her time with her father, and documents everything, which includes taking pictures and videos of every single moment (such as his birthday which was shared on social media back in March) and even saving his voicemails on a hard drive so she has them forever. "I’m like an archaeologist, searching for treasure in stuff that I never used to pay much attention to," she said.
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"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," she explained. "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. I can savor that time, hold my dad’s hand, and feel that it’s wonderful. I know that trials are looming, that this is the beginning of grief, but that whole thing about loving yourself before you can love somebody else – it’s real."
