NYT OPINION: Bruce Willis, My Father, and the Decision of a Lifetime
By Patti Davis
Section: Opinion
Source: New York Times
Published Date: February 18, 2023 at 02:00AM
“Bruce has always found joy in life, and has helped everyone he knows to do the same,” the family wrote. “Your continued compassion, understanding, and respect will enable us to help Bruce live as full a life as possible.”
Reading that beautiful letter, I felt awe at their bravery, as well as their unity as members of a complex family. I felt sorrow for Mr. Willis. I also felt a tug of fear about the consequences of going public — just as I felt in 1994 when my father told the nation that he had Alzheimer’s.
It had been five years since he had left the White House, and a couple of weeks since I myself had heard the news of his condition. I had been overwhelmed with a storm of emotions: grief, fear, a resolve to be there for my father through it all. But at that time it was a family matter. No one had mentioned making his diagnosis public, and I hadn’t asked.
Then one afternoon the phone rang in my Manhattan apartment. My mother rarely called at that time of day, morning in California, but she said she was glad she reached me because my father had written a letter to the country and within a few hours it would be released. She said it was his idea, and she was so proud of his decision.
By Patti Davis
Section: Opinion
Source: New York Times
Published Date: February 18, 2023 at 02:00AM
The story of a brave announcement and its unpredictable aftermath.
The letter from Bruce Willis’s family bore seven names — Emma, Demi, Rumer, Scout, Tallulah, Mabel and Evelyn — and a picture of the actor smiling on the beach. You could almost mistake the letter for one of those holiday circulars some families send around, but for one detail: It appeared on Thursday on the website of the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, a group devoted to a condition with which Mr. Willis had been diagnosed. His family said he would want to use his visibility to help bring attention to others suffering from the disease.“Bruce has always found joy in life, and has helped everyone he knows to do the same,” the family wrote. “Your continued compassion, understanding, and respect will enable us to help Bruce live as full a life as possible.”
Reading that beautiful letter, I felt awe at their bravery, as well as their unity as members of a complex family. I felt sorrow for Mr. Willis. I also felt a tug of fear about the consequences of going public — just as I felt in 1994 when my father told the nation that he had Alzheimer’s.
It had been five years since he had left the White House, and a couple of weeks since I myself had heard the news of his condition. I had been overwhelmed with a storm of emotions: grief, fear, a resolve to be there for my father through it all. But at that time it was a family matter. No one had mentioned making his diagnosis public, and I hadn’t asked.
Then one afternoon the phone rang in my Manhattan apartment. My mother rarely called at that time of day, morning in California, but she said she was glad she reached me because my father had written a letter to the country and within a few hours it would be released. She said it was his idea, and she was so proud of his decision.
Read more at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/18/opinion/bruce-willis-my-father-and-the-decision-of-a-lifetime.html
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