Bruce Willis’ eldest daughter Rumer has said she ‘feels a deep ache in my chest’ when paying tribute to him.
In 2023, the Die Hard actor’s family announced that he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a year after he retired from Hollywood.
In the two years since his loved ones – including ex-wife Demi Moore and their three daughters – have shared updates on his condition, also advocating for more awareness of the neurodegenerative condition.
Over the weekend Rumer, 36, reflected on their current relationship in an heartbreaking Father’s Day post.
‘Today is hard, I feel a deep ache in my chest to talk to you and tell you everything I’m doing and what’s going on in my life,’ she began the post, which included a series of photos of them together over the years.
‘To hug you and ask you about life and your stories and struggles and successes. I wish I asked you more questions while you could still tell me about it all. But I know you wouldn’t want me to be sad today so I’ll try to just be grateful reminding myself how lucky I am that you’re my dad and that you’re still with me and I can still hold you and hug you and kiss your cheek and rub your head I can tell you stories.
‘I can watch the way your eyes light up when you see Louetta (her daughter with ex Derek Richard Thomas). I will be grateful for every moment I have with you. I love you so much dad happy Father’s Day. Sending love to all those who are in the boat with me or have lost their fathers, to the single moms who are the dads too, to my future baby daddy…❤️’
Bruce also shares daughters Scout LaRue Willis, 33, and Tallulah Belle Willis, 31, with Demi, 62.
He is now married to Emma Heming Willis, 46, with whom he shares daughters Mabel Ray Willis, 13, and Evelyn Penn Willis, 11.
On Sunday Emma also shared an emotional post, writing about fathers ‘living with disability or disease’.
‘Happy Father’s Day to all the dads living with disability or disease, showing up in the ways they can and to the children who show up for them,’ she captioned the post, which was accompanied by a photo of him hugging one of their daughters.
‘I’m profoundly sad today. I wish, with every cell in my body, that things could be different for him and lighter for our family,’ she continued.
‘As they say in our FTD community, “It is what it is”. And while that might sound dismissive, to me, it’s not. It grounds me. It helps me return to the acceptance of what is and not fight this every step of the way like I used to.’
Commonly called FTD, the disease Bruce has been diagnosed with is the most common form of dementia for people under the age of 60. It has no treatment or cure.
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