Emma Heming Willisis celebrating a milestone withBruce Willisamid hisdementia battle.
The model and author reflected on their 18th anniversary of becoming a couple on Tuesday, Dec. 30. "18 years ago, he became my boyfriend. With one kiss on the top of my head, time stood still," the actress captioned a throwback photo of herself and her "Perfect Stranger" costar onInstagram. "I'm so lucky to know this kind of love."
In the photo, Willis kisses Heming Willis on the side of the head as she looks on. The couple wed in 2009, and now share two children: Mabel Ray, 13, and Evelyn Penn, 11. Willis has three daughters from his previous marriage toDemi Moore.
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Heming Willis, 47, previously opened up about the challenges of celebrating the holidays amid Willis declining health. The "Sixth Sense" actor, 70, was first diagnosed with aphasia, which affects how a person communicates, especially using speech,in 2022. The diagnosis led to his retirement from acting. In 2023,Willis' family announcedthat the condition had progressed tofrontotemporal dementia.
In a post on her website, titled "The Holidays Look Different Now," Heming Willis, 47, opened up about living through what she described as a "web of grief" during the holidays.
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"For me, the holidays carry memories of Bruce being at the center of it all," she wrote. "He loved this time of year — the energy, family time, the traditions. Dementia doesn't erase those memories. But it does create space between then and now. And that space can ache."
Heming Willis went on to share that she finds herself "cursing Bruce's name while wrestling with the holiday lights or taking on tasks that used to be his," not because she is mad at him but "because I miss the way he once led the holiday charge."
But, she added, "You can miss what was and still show up for what is."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Bruce Willis, Emma Heming Willis celebrate 18 years together
