Bruce Willis’ Wife Slams the Media for Spreading Misinformation About Dementia
Bruce Willis’ wife, Emma Heming Willis, has slammed the media for spreading misinformation on neurocognitive diseases through insensitive headlines about her husband.
In 2022, Willis’ family released a statement revealing that he was retiring from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia. Aphasia is a language disorder in which individuals find themselves struggling to verbally express their thoughts and understand speech. The language disorder often occurs as a symptom of dementia.
Last year, Willis’ family released another statement confirming the actor had also been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. The statement specifically asked that any media coverage be focused on raising awareness for the condition. While FTD and aphasia are becoming more prevalent, awareness and research are lacking, and there is no treatment or cure for these conditions.
Unfortunately, the lack of awareness and understanding of neurocognitive conditions has been captured by the insensitivity of the media and entertainment industry. Days after Willis’ aphasia diagnosis was announced, the Razzies initially released a statement joking about it and refusing to remove its special category devoted to Willis’ worst performances in 2021. More recently, Wendy Williams was also diagnosed with aphasia and FTD, and two days after her diagnosis was made public, Lifetime released the controversial docuseries Where Is Wendy Williams? The documentary was filmed prior to the filmmakers learning of her condition but was released anyway, using Williams’ declining health for entertainment with almost no mention of her diagnosis whatsoever.
Now, Heming Willis is speaking out about the media’s lack of compassion and awareness when reporting on Willis.
Heming Willis calls out the media’s abhorrent framing of Willis’ life
Heming Willis took to Instagram with a short video and statement about the media’s coverage of Willis. While she is used to the media running all manner of clickbaity coverage on her family, she was particularly “triggered” by one headline. According to her, the headline essentially said that Willis has no joy in his life since his aphasia and FTD diagnosis. It may be difficult for some to understand how anyone could think running such a headline was acceptable. Unfortunately, it has become pretty commonplace since Willis’ diagnosis for tabloids to run sensationalized headlines speculating on the actor’s condition despite his family asking for privacy.
None of these outlets actually know anything about Willis and his family. Yet, even without networks releasing docuseries on his condition, the media still finds a way to profit from false and insensitive headlines. However, it wasn’t just the insensitivity and ignorance of boundaries that struck Heming Willis. The article’s fearmongering angered her.
In her video, Heming Willis explained, “I need society and who’s ever writing these stupid headlines to stop scaring people. Stop scaring people to think that once they get a diagnosis of some kind of neurocognitive disease that, that’s it. It’s over. Let’s pack it up. We’re nothing else to see here. We’re done.”
She went on to state that the truth is the complete opposite of the narrative the media is creating. While acknowledging that “grief and sadness” is a part of these diagnoses, it is also about starting “a new chapter.” These individuals enter a new chapter of life after a diagnosis, and it’s often one “filled with love,” as well as connection and joy. Heming Willis concluded that this is the chapter Willis and his family are currently in, requesting the media to stop trying to”freak people out.” In her caption, she went into further detail about how this misinformation and horrific framing of dementia can “do a number” on one’s “psyche.” Additionally, she pointed out there’s no reason for the misinformation when there are so many organizations and specialists that would be willing to provide their expertise and help the media cover dementia in an informed manner.
It can’t be denied that dementia is a devastating diagnosis due to a lack of treatment and cure. However, it’s beyond cruel to just assume of any human, regardless of their circumstances, that their life is essentially over and they have no more joy. From the clickbaity and callous headlines about Willis to Where Is Wendy Williams?, society has been presenting a dangerously ill-informed portrait of dementia, and it’s about time that the media let experts and dementia patients and their families take back the narrative.
(Via Yahoo! Entertainment, featured image: Dia Dipasupil / Getty)
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