Plus more on how she prioritizes her own brain health in this exclusive.
Reviewed by Dietitian Jessica Ball, M.S., RD
Key Points
- Emma Heming Willis shares her experiences as a caregiver and its impact on her own health in this exclusive interview.
- She states that dementia is a “family disease” as it’s “something the whole family is navigating.”
- Heming Willis incorporates a Mediterranean diet and supplements into her routine to support her own brain health.
When Bruce Willis was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in 2023, millions of people got a closer look at a disease many had never heard of. But dementia is far more common than many realize. In fact, more than 55 million people worldwide are currently living with dementia, and that number is expected to keep rising.
For Emma Heming Willis—businesswoman, former model, actor and Bruce’s wife— the diagnosis reshaped daily life long before it became official. (Willis was initially diagnosed with aphasia, a neurological disorder that affects communication abilities, including speaking, reading and writing, before later receiving this FTD diagnosis.) In her book, The Unexpected Journey: Finding Hope and Purpose on the Caregiving Pathshe reflects on becoming a caregiver or “care partner,” as she often calls it, while navigating the emotional and logistical realities that come with dementia.
After reading the book, I chatted with Heming Willis about what she’s learned as a first-time caregiver, why she calls dementia “a family disease” and how the experience changed the way she thinks about her own health.
Why Emma Heming Willis Calls Dementia “a Family Disease”
One of the first things Heming Willis writes in her book is that FTD is a “family disease.” While dementia affects one person directly, she says the impact quickly extends to everyone around them.
“When one person is diagnosed with dementia, it doesn’t stay contained to that individual,” Heming Willis explains to me. “It reshapes an entire family system, and roles start to shift overnight. You move from a partner or a child or a friend into a caregiver, often without warning or preparation. Your daily life is impacted across the board: decision-making, finances, parenting, routines—it becomes something the whole family is navigating together.”
The selfless acts of care partners can come at a cost. According to AARP’s caregiving research report, 23% of caregivers report difficulty taking care of their own health because of caregiving responsibilities. Rates are even higher for caregivers who are women, LGBTQ+, low-income, Hispanic or Latino. The act of caregiving has physical and emotional impacts, with nearly two-thirds of caregivers experiencing moderate or high emotional stress and 45% reporting daily moderate or high physical strain.
In her book, Heming Willis writes that “the most important thing you can do for a loved one is to take care of yourself.” But she admits it took time for her to heed this advice and make her needs a priority.
The turning point was when one of Willis’ neurologists revealed an alarming statistic about caregiver health: she shared research published in the Alzheimer’s Association’s journal showing that 18% of spouse caregivers for people with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia die before their loved one. Heming Willis felt so seen.
“I was burning the candle at both ends and trying to handle so much on my own with Bruce and his diagnosis, as well as our two young girls, who were 8 and 10 when Bruce was first diagnosed,” she says. “I didn’t realize that caregiving can be so bad for your health, and I think that that was such an important wake-up for me: it was OK to start to ask for help and bring that support in.”
Credit: Getty Images
From there, Heming Willis began leaning on family, friends and caregiver support groups.
“What I realized is that caregiving isn’t a solo mission and that we need to be able to bring in help and support. We need to know that it’s OK to ask for help and that we’re not failures because we need it,” she notes. “We need to change the narrative that this is just a one-person thing. Dementia is very hard. It is 24/7, there are no breaks, there’s no time off—and the caregiver needs support to be able to care for their person as well as themselves.”
For Heming Willis, part of that support began with something small but meaningful: making time for her own health appointments again.
“I had become so neglectful of myself,” she recalls, explaining that she had fallen behind on routine visits like annual physicals, mammograms and dentist appointments. Once her calendar started to include her own name, her health became a priority again.
Why She Started Prioritizing Her Brain Health
Women make up 61% of caregivers. Women are also disproportionately affected by Alzheimer’s disease, accounting for nearly two-thirds of Americans living with the condition.
As Heming Willis dug into the research after Bruce’s diagnosis, she started paying closer attention to her own cognitive health, too.
“When I was experiencing my own brain fog and really just not feeling like myself, I took it to my doctor, who just dismissed me,” she shares. “It was like, Oh, you know what, you’re just stressed, you’re not sleeping enough, you have ‘mommy brain,’ it’s your hormones. But I started to get more curious about why I was feeling this way and sought out a brain-health doctor.”
After implementing just a few lifestyle changes—including following the Mediterranean diet and taking supplements recommended by her doctor—she immediately noticed a positive impact.
“I really started to see a difference in my focus, and that brain fog started to clear,” Heming Willis says.
That experience eventually inspired her to co-found Make Time Wellnessa supplements brand, with her friend and wellness advocate Helen Christoni. The company focuses on women’s brain health, and its products include brain-healthy ingredients such as biotin and curcumin.
Still, Heming Wills says the larger goal is awareness.
“No one is talking to women about their brains. Women are at such a higher risk for Alzheimer’s than men,” she says. “And I just thought, why aren’t we speaking to women about their brains? It was really important for me to be able to share the information that made a meaningful difference in how I was feeling. There are absolutely things that we can do to support our brain health.”
When to Make Time for Your Mind
If you’re looking to prioritize your own brain health, research suggests that habits like eating a nutrient-rich diet, staying physically active, prioritizing sleep and working with a health care provider on personalized recommendations are all great first steps.
After our conversation, I felt the importance of keeping my own brain health a focus in my lifestyle, from healthy eating choices to taking moments for mindfulness exercises. I’m in my mid-20s, but what Heming Willis shared proves true for all ages: “it’s never too late” or too early to start.
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