Following Bruce Willis's Dementia Diagnosis, Emma Heming Willis to Publish New Book About Caregiving
The book will feature learnings from the author's new role as caregiver to her husband Bruce Willis following his frontotemporal dementia diagnosis
Emma Heming Willis is opening up about caretaking for her husband, Bruce Willis, in a new book.
The Make Time Wellness founder, 45, announced Monday that she will be publishing a “book for caregivers” in 2025 through The Open Field, the book imprint helmed by Maria Shriver, per a statement obtained by PEOPLE.
The book, which is currently untitled, is inspired by Heming Willis’ “newfound role as a care partner” to her husband after his diagnosis with frontotemporal dementia in February 2023. The actor was first diagnosed with aphasia, a language disorder, which led to him “stepping away” from acting in March 2022. Willis’ family confirmed that the disease had progressed to frontotemporal dementia, also known as FTD.
Frontotemporal dementia is an overarching term for “a group of brain diseases that mainly affect the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain,” according to Mayo Clinic.
Related: Bruce Willis' Health Updates: Everything His Family Has Said Since His Diagnosis
With her new book, Heming Willis hopes to share information she's learned through her caregiving journey, as well as resources to help others who find themselves in similar situations.
“For me knowledge is power, and building a supportive community around me has been vital," the author says in a statement. "It has brought stability and a certain amount of control back, control that was completely shattered when the diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia first came into our family’s world.”
The book is intended as a resource for people who have loved ones with dementia, and will include interviews, advice from experts and personal stories from Heming Willis's own life.
“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," Heming Willis says. "I want to be able to share that with the next person who finds themselves here.”
The Open Field, Shriver’s imprint that launched in 2021 in partnership with Penguin Life, publishes books that “rise above the noise and move humanity forward.”
“I’m thrilled to be publishing Emma’s book for caregivers,” Shriver says in a statement. “She and I have known each other for a long time, and I’m so proud of the way she is using her voice to help others.”
The feeling is mutual, per Heming Willis. “Partnering with Maria Shriver and her Open Field publishing company is a natural fit. I’ve always been motivated by Maria and her generous spirit in all things, especially when it comes to her devoted advocacy within the Alzheimer’s and dementia space,” she says.
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Heming Willis has spoken openly about her grief following Willis’s diagnosis. A source also previously told PEOPLE that the family "is all closer than ever.”
Heming Willis says of the book, “I am grateful for this unique, healing, and important opportunity to use my voice to raise awareness, encourage, and support others.”
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Read the original article on People.