Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: Model and CocoBaba founder Emma Heming Willis has asked paparazzi to ‘keep their space’ after they followed her husband and former American action hero Bruce Willis, who was recently diagnosed with dementia.
In a video posted on her Instagram page, Heming Willis recalled a recent episode when photographers attempted to speak to her husband while he made a rare public appearance — after diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) — to meet his friends for coffee in Santa Monica.
In an emotional video, Emma Heming Willis said, “There’s still a lot of education that needs to be put forth” about people living with dementia.
The 44-year-old model noted how “difficult and stressful it can be to get someone out into the world and navigate them safely. This one is going out to the photographers and the video people, who are trying to get those exclusives of my husband out there, I know this is your job, but you just keep your space.”
She said that the video people should not yell at her husband and ask him how he is doing? She asked photographers not to do it and give him his space.
Bruce Willis’ posted a video
Emma Heming Willis and Bruce Willis tied the knot in 2009 and the couple has two daughters, Mabel and Evelyn.
“Care specialists say there is no treatment for dementia, a harsh reality that we hope can change in the coming years. As the condition of Bruce worsens, we hope that any sort of media attention can be focused on shining a light on this disease that requires far more research and awareness,” she said.
The Alzheimer’s Association defines FTD as “a group of disorders characterised by progressive nerve cell loss in the brain’s frontal lobes (the areas behind the brow) or temporal lobes.” FTD symptoms include personality changes, speech difficulty and motor impairment.
