Bruce Willis’ wife to paparazzi: Stop with the “yippee-ki-yays” and yelling

Bruce Willis’ wife, Emma Heming Willis, has asked paparazzi to maintain their distance and refrain from yelling at the 67-year-old “Die Hard” star, who was recently diagnosed with dementia.

In an Instagram video posted Saturday, Heming Willis recounted a recent incident in which photographers attempted to speak to her husband while he made a rare public appearance to meet friends for coffee in Santa Monica. Heming Willis firmly told paparazzi to “just keep your space” to respect her husband’s condition.

“If you are someone who is looking after someone with dementia, you know how difficult and stressful it can be to get someone out into the world and to navigate them safely, even just to get a cup of coffee,” she said. “It’s clear that there’s still a lot of education that needs to be put worth. So this one is going out to the photographers and video people that are trying to get those exclusives of my husband out and about. Just keep your space.”

Heming Willis continued, “I know this is your job, but maybe just keep your space. Please don’t be yelling at my husband, asking how he’s doing, whatever. The woo-hooing and the yippee-ki-yays — just don’t do it. Give him the space. Allow for our family or whoever’s with him that day to be able to get him from Point A to Point B safely. That’s my PSA.”

Heming Willis and Willis married in 2009 and have two daughters, Mabel and Evelyn.

Her statement comes a few weeks after Willis’ family announced that he had been diagnosed with a form of dementia called frontotemporal dementia. In 2022, Willis was diagnosed with aphasia — a speaking disorder that affects a person’s ability to communicate — and subsequently retired from acting.

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“Today there are no treatments for the disease, a reality that we hope can change in the years ahead. As Bruce’s condition advances, we hope that any media attention can be focused on shining a light on this disease that needs far more awareness and research,” Willis’ family said in a statement to CNN.

“Bruce always believed in using his voice in the world to help others, and to raise awareness about important issues both publicly and privately,” his family continued. “We know in our hearts that — if he could today — he would want to respond by bringing global attention and a connectedness with those who are also dealing with this debilitating disease and how it impacts so many individuals and their families.”