“Today I made time to do something I used to love doing—a 30 minute hike and it made all the difference,” Emma wrote.
Full-time caregiving might feel like juggling multiple tasks, as Bruce Willis' wife Emma Heming Willis is all too familiar with. Since her husband's dementia diagnosis was made public in February, the 44-year-old model has been openly discussing what it's like to provide care for a person with dementia. Now that her family is adjusting to a new reality, she is speaking out about how crucial it is to take care of herself, per Self Magazine.
She revealed how much she struggles with taking time out for herself in the caption of an Instagram video she posted on Sunday, April 9, showing herself enjoying some alone time. “Bruce and his masterful mic-drop-one-liners. He would say, ‘He just can’t get out of his own way.’ I never really understood what it meant until it hit me in the face the other day. It’s me. I can’t get out of my own way,” she wrote.
Emma claimed that she suddenly became aware of this while speaking to her daughter Evelyn, 8, that neglecting her own needs had a negative impact on both her and the people around her. She stated in the caption, “I plan, organize, look after everyone and I still rarely make time for me.” She continued in the caption, “The kicker came from Evelyn a few days ago when she said, ‘Mom, you need to get out and touch the grass.’ Spoken like her father’s child…. I’m wound so tight that she sees it, they all feel it. How is that serving anyone.”
In the Instagram video, Emma can be seen enjoying some quality time with herself as she goes for a hike while Taylor Swift’s Anti-Hero plays in the background. She joked in the caption, “Hi! I’m actually the problem.”
Emma decided to take the well-deserved "me time" over the weekend as a result of her talk with her daughter. “Today I made time to do something I used to love doing—a 30-minute hike and it made all the difference,” she wrote. “[My family is] giving me the permission, almost begging me to make time for myself and I need to shhhh, listen and just go.”
Emma has been strongly supporting her husband throughout the diagnosis and the journey. She stepped up and started working with professionals in Dementia care, as well as sent out a strongly worded message when she realized her husband was being bothered by paparazzi.
Ahead of Bruce's birthday, the actress talked of the grief she felt as her husband was going to celebrate his 68th. “Today is my husband’s birthday. I have started the morning by crying, as you can see by my swollen eyes and snotty nose,” she said in an Instagram video. “I do have times of sadness, every day. Grief, every day. And I’m really feeling it today on his birthday,” she added.
The 44-year-old model explained that she was editing a montage to post for her husband's birthday when she experienced these emotions. “As much as I do it for myself, I do it for you, because I know how much you love my husband and it means so much to me, so thank you,” she explained.
References:
https://www.self.com/story/emma-heming-willis-caregiving-instagram
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CqySYxlNpvx/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo By Dimitrios Kambouris
