Emma Heming Willis is celebrating 17 years of love with husband Bruce Willis.
On Sunday, Dec. 29, the model and entrepreneur — who married Bruce, 69, in 2009 — marked the anniversary of when the pair began dating by sharing a post on Instagram featuring a photo of the couple at sunset as they stood in shallow water in their swimsuits.
“17 years of us ❤️,” Emma, 46, began her message before going on to express some of the emotional complexities of their situation.
“Anniversaries used to bring excitement,” she continued. “Now, if I’m honest, they stir up all the feelings, leaving a heaviness in my heart and a pit in my stomach. I give myself 30 minutes to sit in the ‘why him, why us,’ to feel the anger and grief. Then I shake it off and return to what is. And what is… is unconditional love. I feel blessed to know it, and it’s because of him. I’d do it all over again and again in a heartbeat 💞.”
In 2022, Bruce’s family announced that the actor had been diagnosed with the language disorder aphasia and would be stepping away from acting. In 2023, they shared that he had received a more specific diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a progressive condition which causes the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain to atrophy. This, in turn, can cause issues with speech, emotional problems and changes in personality.
Since the diagnosis, Emma has been open with fans about their experience as a family, and specifically as an advocate for fellow caregivers. In a message posted on her Instagram Stories in March 2023, she shared that she had been “crying all morning” ahead of her husband’s birthday.
“I just think it’s important that you see all sides of this,” she said in the video. “I always get this message or people always tell me, ‘Oh, you’re so strong. I don’t know how you do it.’ I’m not given a choice. I wish I was, but I’m also raising two kids in this.”
However, the mom of two — she shares Mabel, 12, and Evelyn, 10, with Bruce — has also made it clear that she is choosing to live in the now and finding the gifts in each day.
“Father’s Day is a time I get to reflect on my deep appreciation and respect I have for Bruce as I watch him father our little ones,” Emma wrote in a Father’s Day post last year.
“Where it might not be ‘conventional,’ what he’s teaching them will span generations,” she continued. “Unconditional love, kindness, strength, compassion, patience, generosity, resilience. Happy Father’s Day to the greatest dad I know, who will forever be the gift that keeps giving within our family.”
In February, Emma announced that she is writing a “book for caregivers” through The Open Field, the book imprint helmed by Maria Shriver.
Eager to share information she’s learned through her caregiving journey, as well as resources to help others who find themselves in similar situations, Emma said at the time: “For me knowledge is power, and building a supportive community around me has been vital… Identifying the right resources to educate and enlighten myself has been powerful and has allowed me the space to continue to move forward in the most positive way so that I can be the best mother, wife, daughter, friend and care partner.”
She added, “I want to be able to share that with the next person who finds themselves here.”
Bruce’s ex-wife Demi Moore has also rallied around the Die Hard actor amid his FTD diagnosis, often expressing similar sentiments.
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While speaking at the 2024 Hamptons International Film Festival in October, The Substance actress, 62, said she tries to meet Bruce where he is on any given day, adding, “When you’re holding on to what was, I think it’s a losing game. But when you show up to meet them where they’re at, there is great beauty and sweetness.”
Bruce and Moore share daughters Rumer, 36, Scout, 33, and Tallulah, 30, as well as granddaughter Lou, 20 months.