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Bruce Willis‘ wife Emma Heming Willis shared an emotional video on social media, noting the importance of caregivers. Her post comes just two weeks after the shocking deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa, whowere found dead in their Sante Fe, New Mexico home.
According to investigators, Hackman, 95, is believed to have been alive inside the home for about a week after his wife, 65, died of Hantavirus, per CBS News. An autopsy showed that Hackman died of heart disease and that he had also been suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s disease. It has been reported that Arakawa was her husband’s caregiver until she died.
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For Heming Willis — who has been a caregiver for her husband since his aphasia diagnosis — Hackman and Arakawa’s tragic deaths, “made [her] think of this broader story, and that is that caregivers need care too and that they are vital, and that it is so important that we show up for them so that they can continue to show up for their person,” the mom of two,46, said in a video posted to Instagram on Monday, March 10.
“I think that there’s this common misconception that like caregivers, they got it figured out,” she added. “They got it covered. They’re good. I don’t subscribe to that. I think that we need to be showing up for them so that they can continue to show up for their person.”
“I know it looks like I’m out living my best life. I have to make a conscious effort every single day to live the best life that I can,” Heming Willis continued. “I don’t want it to be misconstrued that like, I’m good, ’cause I’m not. I’m not good. But I have to put my best foot forward for the sake of myself and my family because again, when we are not looking after ourselves, we cannot look after anyone that we love.”
Heming Willis, who married Willis, 69, in 2009, has been caring for her Die Hard actor husband since he was diagnosed with aphasiain March 2022 and, more specifically, frontotemporal dementia.
“Unfortunately, challenges with communication are just one symptom of the disease Bruce faces. While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis,” the Willis family said in a joint statement in February 2023.
In addition to caring for her husband, Heming Willis also cares for the couple’s two children, Mabel Willis, 12, and Evelyn Willis, 10. Bruce is also a father to three adult daughters, Rumer Willis, 36, Scout Willis, 33, and Tallulah Willis, 31, with his ex-wife, Demi Moore.
