Bruce Willis celebrated his 69th birthday on Tuesday, March 19, and his loved ones took to social media to share a series of heartfelt and emotional messages.
The Die Hard star’s ex-wife, Demi Moore, shared a loving message on Instagram alongside three touching photos. “Happy birthday, BW! We love you and are so grateful for you,” she wrote.
In the first image, Moore tenderly holds Bruce’s hand as he sits in an armchair. The second pic sees a smiling Bruce playing with his granddaughter, Louetta. And the third is a throwback photo of Bruce posing with his and Moore’s three daughters, Rumer Willis, Scout Willis, and Tallulah Willis.
Bruce, who was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in February 2023, also received loving messages from his wife, Emma Heming Willis, and daughters.
“Just like you, we simply adore him. What you might not know, but maybe you could imagine, that being wrapped in his arms is the safest place in this whole wide world,” Emma wrote alongside a photo of Bruce cradling a baby.
She continued, “He’s a true gentle-man. With so much love to give and share. That’s what I get to see, his true core. I can tell you, it’s so pure and ever so good. Happy Birthday my love. You are the gift that keeps giving.”
Speaking about Bruce’s health on The Today Show last year, Emma shared, “What I’m learning is that dementia is hard. It’s hard on the person diagnosed; it’s also hard on the family. And that is no different for Bruce, or myself, or our girls. When they say this is a family disease, it really is.”
She added that it’s “hard to know” if he’s aware of what’s going on.
Bruce’s eldest daughter, Rumer, also shared a carousel of photos, many of them of her dad holding her when she was a baby.
“Looking through these photos this morning I am just filled with the deepest gratitude that we chose to spend this life together,” she wrote. “I am your first baby and man sometimes I wish I could be tiny enough to just cozy up on your chest again and laugh and cuddle you. I love you so deep in my bones I don’t know how my muscles hold them.”
Scout also shared a beautiful message alongside a series of pics, one including her softly touching her father’s face.
“A tender, moody, beautiful, very Piscean man, whose depth of love for his family can only be felt, not articulated,” she said. “Any words I use would be woefully inadequate. So instead I want to say thank you for loving my papa, thank you for sharing your stories of what he means to you, it’s such a gift to feel your love.”
Tallulah reshared her sisters’ tributes on her Instagram Story, along with a video of Bruce shaving her head.
Since Bruce’s diagnosis, the family has aimed to spread awareness about FTD. In a recent video, Emma said, “I need society — and whoever’s writing these stupid headlines — to stop scaring people. Stop scaring people to think that once they get a diagnosis of some kind of neurocognitive disease that — that’s it. ‘It’s over. Let’s pack it up. We’re — Nothing else to see here. We’re done.’”
“No,” she continued. “There is grief and sadness. There’s all of that. But you start a new chapter.”
