28 December 2023 , 15:28
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Bruce Willis' wife Emma Heming Willis has encouraged her fans to "be fearless" as she stressed the importance of taking a step back and remembering to "breathe".
The couple has been celebrating their 16th anniversary, with Emma taking to Instagram to admit things can be tough after Bruce's dementia diagnosis. Speaking in a video, she said she had a "good cry" with one of her friends and described how "hard" anniversaries and holidays can be.
Emma's 11-year-old daughter Mabel then had a positive message for her mum. She made Emma a special friendship bracelet with the words "fearless" and "breathe" spelled out in beads.
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Emma Heming Willis was given a sweet reminder by her daughter (emmahemingwillis/Instagram)
She opened up about Bruce Willis' dementiaSharing a snap of the sweet gift on her Instagram Story, Emma said: "Be fearless. Remember to breathe. Thanks Mabel." Earlier in the day, Emma had shared a lovely picture of her and Bruce kissing and wrote: "16 years with this special man. My love and adoration for him only grows."
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The couple has been together since 2007 after meeting while working out at their mutual trainer's gym. After two years of dating, the couple tied the knot.
On Wednesday, Emma admitted it had been an emotional day as she and Bruce celebrated their anniversary. "How do I really feel about today? Well how do I look?" she said as she let out a small laugh.
Emma added: "Think this about sums it up," as she pointed to her makeup free appearance and casual outfit. "I just got off the phone with a really dear girlfriend of mine who I was able to have a good cry with," she told her followers.
Bruce and Emma have been celebrating their anniversary (emmahemingwillis/Instagram)
She takes care of her husband (Getty Images for Film at Lincoln Center)The model continued: "It is really important to be able to have someone that you can trust with your feelings instead of just bottling them up and putting your best foot forward and just kind of soldering through stuff which I have a tendency to do. But you know, holidays are hard. Anniversaries are hard.
"But for me this year, it's really been about community - building a community and connection. And I just want to say that has been my lifeline and I just want to thank you for that."
Emma has been her husband's caretaker ever since his heath started to decline in 2022. Bruce's family shared in March of that year that Bruce had language disorder aphasia, with an update in February of this year revealing that it had progressed to frontotemporal dementia (or FTD).