Bruce Willis celebrated as 'favorite girl dad': What to know about his family
Bruce Willis is a dad of five daughters who are now supporting him as he battles dementia.
Bruce Willis shares daughters Scout Willis, Rumer Willis and Tallulah Belle Willis with ex-wife Demi Moore, to whom he was married from 1987 to 2000.
The "Die Hard" actor is also father to two more daughters, Mabel Ray Willis and Evelyn Penn Willis, whom he shares with wife Emma Heming Willis.
In 2023, Bruce Willis became a grandfather with the birth of Rumer Willis's daughter, Louetta, whom she has described as a mini-version of her dad.
"She literally has that little sparkle, that certain thing that you can't [see anywhere else],” Rumer Willis told People of her daughter's similarities to Bruce Willis. “It's like this charm and charisma and mischief that just is who my dad is. And I love that she has that.”
Bruce Willis, described by his loved ones as their "favorite girl dad," has said that his family is the "most significant part" of his life.
"I've learned that my life revolves around my family and friends," he said in a 2013 interview. "When I'm not working, my days are devoted to the women in my life. I don't need anything more than that."
He also shared the lessons he's learned from his daughters, saying, "Over the years I learned from my daughters how it was more important to listen than to speak. I've discovered through experience that I should hold back sometimes and be more reflective and save myself a lot of aggravation. You learn more by listening and observing."
The actor's family revealed in 2022 that he had been diagnosed with aphasia, a condition where the brain's ability to understand or express language is impaired, according to the National Institutes of Health.
The following year, Bruce Willis's family shared he had also been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, a type of dementia that impacts one's personality and may cause behavioral changes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Emma Willis told Town & Country Magazine in October that she has "never tried to sugarcoat" anything about her husband's diagnosis with their daughters.
"What I learned from our therapist was that if children ask questions, they’re ready to know the answer," she said. "If we could see that Bruce was struggling, I would address it with the kids so they could understand, but this disease is chronic, progressive, and terminal. There is no cure. Obviously, I don’t like to speak about the terminal side of this with them, nor have they asked. They know that Daddy’s not going to get better."
Get to know Bruce Willis' five kids below.
Rumer Glenn Willis
Born Aug. 16, 1988, in Paducah, Kentucky, Rumer Glenn Willis is Bruce Willis' and Moore's first child together.
Rumer Willis followed in her parents' footsteps into acting and made her onscreen debut as a child actress in her mom's 1995 film "Now and Then," in which she was credited under the name Willa Glen.
She has since appeared in numerous films and TV shows including "Striptease," "The Whole Nine Yards," "Hostage," "The House Bunny," "Empire," "Pretty Little Liars" and "9-1-1," among many others.
She has also taken part in reality competition shows such as "Dancing with the Stars," in which she and her dance partner Valentin Chmerkovskiy were crowned champions of season 20.
Rumer Willis shares one child, a daughter named Louetta Isley Thomas Willis, with her boyfriend, musician Derek Richard Thomas.
On her dad's birthday on March 19, Rumer Willis wrote on Instagram that to be loved by her dad is "such a gift," adding, "You are the funniest, most tender, charming, out of this world silly, talented and magical papa."
When Rumer Willis turned 36 on Aug. 16, 2024, her stepmom Emma Heming Willis shared birthday wishes for her on Instagram, writing in a story, "We adore you," above a photo of her daughters posing with their eldest stepsister.
Scout LaRue Willis
The second child of Bruce Willis and Moore, Scout Willis was born July 20, 1991, in Sun Valley, Idaho. She also appeared in her mom's films as a child actress in "The Scarlet Letter" and "Breakfast of Champions."
Scout Willis later pursued her passion in music. In 2021, she released her debut single, "Love Without Possession," and the following year, released another song, "Woman At Best." She released a full-length album in June 2022.
A graduate of Brown University, she also took part in a 2015 art exhibition in London and displayed her self-portraits.
Tallulah Belle Willis
Tallulah Belle Willis was born Feb. 3, 1994, in Los Angeles.
She spent much of her younger years on her family's ranch in Idaho, and according to an interview she gave to Teen Vogue in 2015, she was mostly sheltered from her family's Hollywood life until she was in third grade, when they moved back to California.
She later built a career in fashion after launching her own clothing brand, Wyllis.
Tallulah Willis stepped out in April to celebrate her dad's acting career. Wearing a baseball cap with the word "Bruce" on it, she attended the 30th anniversary celebration of "Pulp Fiction" in Hollywood alongside her stepmom.
In May 2023, Tallulah Willis opened up about her dad's declining health in a first-person piece for Vogue, writing, "I've known that something was wrong for a long time."
"It started out with a kind of vague unresponsiveness, which the family chalked up to Hollywood hearing loss: 'Speak up! Die Hard messed with Dad's ears,'" she wrote at the time, adding that "later, that unresponsiveness broadened."
She also opened up about how she's learned to treasure her memories with her father, writing, "Every time I go to my dad's house, I take tons of photos -- of whatever I see, the state of things. I'm like an archaeologist, searching for treasure in stuff that I never used to pay much attention to. I have every voicemail from him saved on a hard drive. I find that I'm trying to document, to build a record for the day when he isn't there to remind me of him and of us."
Tallulah Willis revealed in 2024 that she was diagnosed with autism as an adult. In the comments section of a video she shared on Instagram of herself as a child with her dad, she said she had been diagnosed with autism within the past year.
"Actually this is the first time I've ever publicly shared my diagnosis," she wrote. "Found out this summer and it's changed my life."
In addition to her autism diagnosis, Tallulah Willis has previously shared publicly that she was diagnosed with ADHD as a teenager and, in 2022, was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, a "mental illness that severely impacts a person's ability to manage their emotions," according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
Mabel Ray Willis
Bruce Willis and Heming Willis welcomed their first child together, Mabel Ray Willis, on April 1, 2012.
Born in Los Angeles, Mabel spent her first few years of life living in Bedford Hills, New York.
In a 2017 interview with Elle Decor, Heming Willis explained the reason behind her decision to raise her kids outside of New York City, and not in Los Angeles.
"We love the East Coast. We knew New York was where we would end up and ultimately want to raise our kids, but we also have a love/hate relationship with the city. It’s busy, and the spaces can be small," she said. "We wanted our kids to be able to have more room and a yard to run in. I also wanted to keep the kids as sheltered as we could from the paparazzi, and that scene is still very prevalent in L.A.; it’s not bad in New York, and it’s zero up where we live, so that played a big part in our decision-making too."
Mabel features prominently on her mom's Instagram account, and is frequently photographed outdoors, enjoying nature and her family.
Evelyn Penn Willis
Evelyn Penn Willis is Bruce Willis' fifth child and his second with wife Heming Willis. She was born May 5, 2014.
In 2023, Heming Willis shared on Instagram a heartwarming story about Evelyn "looking up fun facts" about dementia for her father.
Heming Willis explained in a video that Evelyn had asked her around that time, "Did you know that people with dementia can become severely dehydrated?"
"[Evelyn] said, 'I was at school the other day and I had some free time, and I was looking up fun facts about dementia,'" Heming Willis said at the time. She added that the moment was "not funny, but it's kinda funny," because Evelyn shares her father's curiosity.
"She really is her father's child, because these two love some, just, random facts," she added.
