Bruce Willis experienced return of 'debilitating' childhood disorder that first alerted wife Emma to his dementia

Emma Heming Willis was first alerted to her husband's dementia after the Die Hard actor experienced the return of a 'debilitating' childhood disorder.

Willis' family confirmed in 2023 that he'd been diagnosed with frontotemporal degeneration (FTD), an 'uncommon' type of dementia that is said to impact an estimated 60,000 people in the US.

In the years since going public with the diagnosis, Emma has spoken openly about her family situation and some of the first symptoms she noticed before her husband was diagnosed.

Emma spoke just one day before the 27th anniversary of The Sixth Sense, which starred Willis.

Speaking on the Making Space with Hoda Kotb podcast on Today, Emma detailed one symptom she noticed with her partner which was the return of a 'debilitating' childhood disorder for Willis.

Emma Heming Willis has been speaking about her husband's dementia diagnosis (Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration)

She said: "I started noticing a stutter that he had had, a severe stutter, that was quite debilitating for him as a young child.

"It started to come back. It's not that his stutter wasn't there throughout his life. He just sort learned to manage it. But then I started noticing that he was not managing it anymore."

Emma, a former model and entrepreneur, turned 50 earlier this year, but admitted on the podcast that she has 'not really been in the celebratory feelings of late'.

"I was unsure if I really wanted to do anything," Emma added.

"But I had a friend of mine who kept sort of pushing and saying, 'You know what? You don’t wanna miss out on your 50th. You have to celebrate in some form or fashion.' And I really sat with that, and I thought about it. And I thought, 'You know what? I don’t wanna look back and think, why didn’t I celebrate 50?'"

Nonetheless, Emma was able to celebrate with plenty of cocktails alongside her nearest and dearest, but she did struggle to enjoy the moment as she continues to 'wrestle' with guilt.

She continued on the Making Space podcast: "I always wrestle with it, you know? I think guilt is something that I am always carrying, but I’ve learned that it is really not helpful. What I know is I always go back to what would my husband want for me?"

Bruce and Emma Heming Willis married in 2009 (Burak Akbulut/Anadolu via Getty Images)

It comes after Emma addressed the 'common misconception' of Willis' dementia diagnosis.

"When people say, 'Oh, you know, does he remember who you are?' Well, he does because he doesn't have Alzheimer's; he has FTD," she on The Bossticks podcast in June.

"I think that's a very common misconception that, when you think of dementia, we think of memory loss."

Earlier this year, the Willis' launched the Emma & Bruce Willis Fund to raise awareness, support caregivers, and fund research into dementia.

Speaking previously about what life with dementia looks like from a caregiver's perspective, Emma said: "These diseases, they take and they take and they take, sometimes very slowly, and you are grieving different losses all the time. So you are consistently in grief."