The Unexpected Journey: Emma Heming Willis on Caregiving, Love, and Resilience

Next Question with Katie Couric

Katie Couric Media

News, Health, Society & Culture, Commentary, Documentary,, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 24 September 2025

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When Bruce Willis was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, Emma Heming Willis's life changed overnight. In this intimate conversation, she tells Katie about the early whispers of the disease, why getting a diagnosis was both a blessing and a curse, and how she's helping their two young daughters navigate this “long goodbye.” Emma opens up about the guilt of taking a family trip without Bruce, the stigma caregivers face when making impossible decisions, and why she believes asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. Along the way, she shares lessons from her new book The Unexpected Journey—practical tools, expert insights, and the emotional wisdom she wishes she'd had in the early days.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an IHeart podcast.
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0:37.7	In this world where I feel like we're also just disconnected,
0:41.6	there is something so beautiful about this connection
0:45.9	that I am getting from other care partners that are going through this.
0:50.7	It is deep. It is meaningful.
0:52.2	I don't have to have these long drawn-out conversations
0:54.6	with them. We can see each other. We hold hands. We hug. We cry together. I mean, there is such
0:59.9	beauty in that, in a world that just feels so discombobulated. Hi, everyone. I'm Katie Couric,
1:08.5	and this is next question.
	...

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