Tallulah Willis, the 29-year-old daughter of Hollywood royalty Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, penned an essay in Vogue about her father’s dementia diagnosis, her struggles with anorexia, and how she’s coping.
In 2022, Willis’s father went public about his struggles with aphasia, a disorder that can affect both understanding speech and speaking and earlier this year, the family found out the aphasia was a symptom of frontotemporal dementia, a neurodegenerative disease that Willis wrote “chips away at his cognition and behavior day by day.” Willis said dealing with her father’s diagnosis has been especially hard in light of her own struggles. “I admit that I have met Bruce’s decline in recent years with a share of avoidance and denial that I’m not proud of,” she writes. “The truth is that I was too sick myself to handle it. For the last four years, I have suffered from anorexia nervosa, which I’ve been reluctant to talk about because, after getting sober at age 20, restricting food has felt like the last vice that I got to hold on to.”
After a break-up in 2022, Willis was sent to Driftwood Recovery in Texas and diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. In the aftermath of her own diagnosis, Willis writes with hope about being able to be there for her dad. “I can savor that time, hold my dad’s hand, and feel that it’s wonderful. I know that trials are looming, that this is the beginning of grief, but that whole thing about loving yourself before you can love somebody else—it’s real.”
We’re wishing the best for Tallulah, Bruce, and the entire Willis family as they face this next chapter together.
If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, the NEDA helpline is here to help at 1-800-931-2237. NEDA's helpline volunteers offer support and basic information, locate treatment options in your area, and can help you find answers to any questions you may have.
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