Inside Bruce Willis’ marriage to Emma Heming Willis — from his diagnosis to their life with kids
Bruce Willis has been married to his wife Emma Heming Willis for 15 years, and while the couple are quite private, the actress regularly takes to her Instagram to share small insights into their family life.
Bruce Willis was married to American actress Demi Moore from 1987 to 2000. But following Bruce and Demi’s divorce in 2000, the Die Hard, Pulp Fiction and Moonlighting star met model and actress Emma Heming in 2005.
The Willis family is now a great example of an amiable and loving blended family, with Bruce and Emma being very close to his ex-wife Demi. Join HELLO! as we look at all you need to know about Emma and the couple’s relationship below…
Emma’s career
© Getty ImagesEmma Frances Heming Willis is a model and actress who was born in Malta. On her blog, emmahemingwillis.com, the star opened up to fans about her family history and ancestry, explaining: “I was born on the small but beautiful island of Malta to a Guyanese mother and an English father.
At a young age, my parents divorced and my mom and I moved to London for a few years to be closer to her family, and then relocated to Southern California where we settled until I finished school.”
Emma’s modelling career began in the UK, when she was discovered by the Lorraine Ashton model agency during a competition on the morning show, The Big Breakfast.
She went on to work with fashion and beauty brands including Dior, Garnier, Gap, and star on the covers of magazines including Glamour, Town & Country and Elle.
© Getty ImagesShe began her acting career in 2006 when she appeared in a small role in the film Entourage. She later took roles in the 2007 films Perfect Stranger and The Comebacks, and starred alongside her husband Bruce in the action comedy movie Red 2.
Their adorable meet cute
The action film star and former model met in 2005, when they both caught each other’s eyes at their mutual trainer Gunnar Peterson’s gym. At the time, Emma was engaged to American entrepreneur Brent Bolthouse, but fate was on Bruce and Emma’s side.
SEE: Bruce Willis is beaming in unseen video with his daughter Mabel despite health condition
Bruce and Emma met again in 2007 after she and Brent had broken off their engagement. Speaking on the David Letterman show back in 2009, the Red actor revealed that after just one date the couple fell “mad crazy in love”.
© Getty ImagesThey continued to date for two years, during which time they were regularly seen together at events.
MORE: Bruce Willis’ wife Emma pleads with paparazzi to give actor ‘space’ after dementia diagnosis
One of these occasions was at the 2008 premiere of Bruce Willis’ film Flawless. There, the couple delighted fans with an insight into the friendly shared-family dynamic they had fostered with Bruce’s ex-wife Demi Moore and her and Bruce’s children.
© Getty ImagesEmma, Demi, Bruce and his daughter Tallulah celebrated the film at the after-party together.
Their wedding
The Hollywood stars got married in March 2009 in a private ceremony held at Bruce’s then-home in Turks and Caicos. Following this private ceremony, the two then legally tied the knot in a civil ceremony in Beverly Hills.
The couple have not shared many wedding photos online, although Emma did share one for their 13th anniversary. The photo showed her overwhelmed with emotion during their wedding speeches. She captioned it: “13 years ago, those wedding speeches really sent us over the edge… #uglycry.”
Following their marriage, Bruce told W magazine that meeting Emma meant: “I went from ‘[explicit] love’ to ‘love is truly the answer'”.
“She was a real person, and she didn’t want anything from me,” he continued, before gushing: “I hear so many people in relationships say, ‘I just need a couple of days away, or even an hour away.’ But I don’t want to be away from Emma at all. It’s the most singular relationship I’ve ever had in my life.”
© Getty ImagesSince being married, the couple have remained quite private, but have given insights into their close relationship with red carpet walks and via Emma’s social media. Following their marriage, they made their red carpet-debut at the 2009 Met Gala.
READ: Rumer Willis shares heartfelt details of her pregnancy and how it has changed her
Emma has since joined Bruce on several red carpet walks throughout the 2010s, including the premiere of Red 2 in 2013 – a film in which both Bruce and Emma starred. In 2015, the couple celebrated the Moonlighting star’s 60th birthday with a lavish party in New York City.
© Getty ImagesThe couple now live in an amazing $9.8million mansion in LA with their daughters Mabel and Evelyn.
Their family life
Bruce and Emma have two daughters, 11-year-old Mabel Willis and eight-year-old Evelyn Willis. Emma is also step-mum to Bruce’s three daughters from his previous marriage to Demi Moore: Rumer, 34, Scout, 31, and 28-year-old Tallulah.
The father of five is also a grandfather, as eldest daughter Rumer announced in December 2022 that she is pregnant with her first child, and gave birth to a daughter, Loutetta Isley Thomas Willis, in April 2023.
Bruce, Emma and Demi are all close friends, and have described themselves as “a strong family unit” in social media posts. Speaking to AOL Entertainment about the children’s relationship with each other, Emma said: “The younger ones love having older sisters. It’s a really sweet relationship…
MORE: Bruce Willis’ children: Inside the actor’s blended family life amid health battle
“We don’t get together as much as we’d all like, just because they’re on the West Coast and they’re on the East Coast, so sometimes our schedules don’t match up. But for the most part, we do get to see them often [sic].”
© Emma Heming Willis on InstagramWedding anniversary
In March 2019 Emma and Bruce returned to the tropical Turks and Caicos location where they originally got married in order to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. Joined this time by daughters Mabel and Evelyn as well as Rumer, Scout and Tallulah, the couple celebrated the occasion by renewing their vows.
Emma shared a photo of her and Bruce kissing following the ceremony on Instagram along with the caption: “We said, we do, again, 10 years later. #happyanniversarymylove”.
In 2023, Emma shared a previously unseen video of the couple’s 10th wedding anniversary vow renewal and festivities in order to celebrate their 14th year together as a married couple.
© Getty ImagesNext to the clip compilation, the actress emotionally penned her caption: “On our 10th wedding anniversary we decided to renew our vows in the same place we said ‘I do’ back in 2009. I’m so happy we did. Seize every opportunity to unite and celebrate with family and friends.
“Those are the moments and beautiful pockets of memories that you get to hold on to for a lifetime. And we get to keep those memories safe and alive for the ones that might not be able to,” she finished, before revealing it was Demi Moore who had captured the videos used in her post.
What are Bruce Willis and Emma Heming Willis doing now?
Emmy-winner Bruce retired from acting in March 2022 after announcing he had been diagnosed with the degenerative condition aphasia.
© Getty ImagesEmma revealed the actor’s decision to step down owing to his aphasia diagnosis on her Instagram: “To Bruce’s amazing supporters, as a family we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities. As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him.”
Bruce’s dementia
Since Bruce’s aphasia diagnosis, Emma has given further updates on social media about how her husband is doing. Most recently, the former model announced in a joint Instagram post with Demi and his elder daughters that Bruce has now been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.
Their statement began: “In the spirit of that, we wanted to give you an update about our beloved husband, father and friend since we now have a deeper understanding of what he is experiencing,” and later linked to a longer explanation of Bruce’s diagnosis on The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration‘s website. It was signed from the “Ladies of Willis/Moore.”
© Photo: InstagramExplaining how Bruce’s diagnosis had affected her life, Emma shared a touching insight into her feelings on Instagram last year: “My grief can be paralyzing but I’m learning how to live alongside it,” she said.
In a video, she went on to explain how some advice from her step-daughter Scout had helped her work through the grief she was experiencing over Bruce’s diagnosis owing to the couple’s deep love for each other: “As my step-daughter @scoutlaruewillis told me, grief is the deepest and purest form of love. I hope you find some comfort in that too.”
Emma Heming Willis often takes to her Instagram to give fans updates on her husband’s condition. In March 2023, she posted a lot around the time surrounding his 68th birthday on March 19 2023.
Taking to the social media site along with Demi Moore, and Bruce’s three older daughters, Emma shared a sweet video of the entire Willis-Heming-Moore family singing happy birthday to the Die Hard actor.
The former model also posted her own compilation of clips celebrating their relationship over the years. “He is pure love. He is so loved. And I’ll be loving him always. Happy Birthday my sweet,” Emma captioned her post lovingly on Instagram.
Remaining open about Bruce’s journey, Emma revealed the impact the decision to reveal the actor’s health condition had on their daughters: “I never wanted our daughters to think that this was some kind of family secret that we have to keep,” adding: “I felt like it was very important for us to come out and say what it was.”
She continued: “I wanted them to see us go out and raise awareness, and on a global scale, because that’s the kind of reach that their father has. And I know that he would want us to do that, so that was very important.”
Source: HelloMagazine
