Rumer Willis gave a hopeful update about her dad, Bruce Willis, in the midst of his ongoing health challenges.
After Bruce, 69, was diagnosed with dementia in February 2023, his oldest daughter was asked about how he’s been feeling lately.
“Good. Really good, yeah,” Rumer, 35, told Us Weekly and a group of reporters Wednesday, May 1, at opening night of the Beverly Hills Film Festival to promote her film My Divorce Party.
Throughout her father’s journey — which began when his family announced in March 2022 that Bruce had been diagnosed with aphasia, forcing him to retire from acting — Rumer and her family have been proactive in sharing photos and videos of the celebrated actor via social media.
As Rumer explained, it’s given her an appreciation for just how “beloved” her dad is.
“I feel like that’s been so evident in the transparency with which we’ve been sharing,” she said. “If sharing our experience, strength, hope and whatever comes forward as a family, if that can bring any sort of hope or comfort to someone else who’s experiencing that, then to me that’s everything.”
Bruce and ex-wife Demi Moore, who has been a constant presence through her ex-husband’s journey, share daughters Rumer, Scout, 32, and Tallulah, 30. In 2009, Bruce married wife Emma Heming Willis, and they share daughters Mabel, 12, and Evelyn, 9.
The crew has often come together as a blended family to support Bruce, which has been extra meaningful since Rumer recently started her own family. In April 2023, she and boyfriend Derek Thomas welcomed their first daughter, Louetta.
In the early stages of her own motherhood journey, Rumer said she’s been able to implement some of the lessons amassed from her parents over the years. She gushed, “I feel like one of my favorite things probably from both of them is just, like, a level of silliness and goofiness and not taking yourself seriously.”
That’s not to say there haven’t been some generational hurdles to get over, however.
“We’re in such a different time,” Rumer explained. “There’s so many different things. It’s funny, my mom will be like, ‘You know, you should do this with her,’ and I’m like, ‘Actually, based on what I’ve been reading, you don’t do that anymore.’ I think there’s just more information out there than there was.”
Rumer further divulged how the specific dichotomy of learning from her mother while simultaneously trying to carve out her own parenting style has been complex to navigate.
“I think what’s amazing is when you’re in that transition from maiden to motherhood and you have that really tight relationship with your mom, there’s an interesting separation that occurs almost as you are discovering your own path as a mother, and it creates separation in this interesting way,” she said. “There are things that obviously I take from her and I love, but there’s also stuff that I really want to discover myself.”
Through it all, Rumer has called the first year of motherhood “rewarding,” which she doesn’t take for granted.
“I’m very lucky,” she acknowledged. “I feel very blessed. I know not everyone has as positive and gentle of a mothering experience as I have had. Louetta is like the most amazing kid. She’s so happy and wonderful and smiley and joyful all the time.”
Reporting by Lanae Brody
