Yahoo Lifestyle Bruce Willis Shows Love To First Responders In Rare Public Appearance Amid LA Wildfires
Bruce Willis recently took time to thank first responders as devastating wildfires continue to burn in the Los Angeles area.
The actor — in a video shared online Thursday by his wife, Emma Heming Willis — was seen giving a handshake and posing for a photo with Los Angeles police officers amid the response to the fires, which have killed at least 27 people and destroyed over 12,000 structures.
Emma Heming Willis captioned the video: “Spotting a first responder, Bruce never missed a chance to show his gratitude with a heartfelt handshake and a ‘thank you for your service.’ Yesterday was no different.”
The video clip is seemingly the first time that Bruce Willis has made a public appearance since his family announced in 2022 that he’d be retiring from acting after he was diagnosed with aphasia, which affects the ability to communicate.
His family would later reveal that his condition had progressed to frontotemporal dementia, which can cause emotional problems and unusual behaviors in addition to communication issues, according to the National Institute on Aging.
Tallulah Willis — Bruce Willis’ recently engaged daughter, whom he shares with fellow actor and former wife Demi Moore — wrote on social media that the video of her father made her “heart so freaking full.”
Bruce Willis’ eldest daughter, actor Rumer Willis, said last year that as the family publicly discusses his health issues, “what’s been so incredible is my dad is so beloved.”
“I think if there’s any way sharing our experience brings hope — whatever comes forward as a family — that can have an effect and bring any sort of hope, comfort to someone else experiencing that, then to me, that’s … everything,” she said.
In December, Emma Heming Willis celebrated an anniversary with Bruce Willis in a social media post, describing the occasion as the type that “used to bring excitement.”
But the former model wrote that “now, if I’m honest, they stir up all the feelings, leaving a heaviness in my heart and a pit in my stomach.”
She continued: “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.”
