Rumer Willis has undergone preventive genetic testing to check her odds of developing Alzheimer's disease, as her father, actor Bruce Willis, continues his own battle with frontotemporal dementia.
The 38-year-old actress, the eldest daughter of Willis, 71, and his former wife, actress Demi Moore, took the genetic test three years after her father was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, according to an interview she gave to People magazine.
'Sometimes It's Terrifying'
Willis told People that getting answers could sometimes be terrifying.
She said there were clearly genetic factors running through her family. Not only dementia, she said, but relatives who had developed breast cancer and others who had faced different health issues of their own. She said she believed that having information gave a person power, and that once someone could recognize they carried a greater predisposition toward a condition, they could begin actively working to reduce inflammation in the body, take care of their heart health, or address whatever the issue happened to be.
Bruce Willis's Dementia Diagnosis
Bruce Willis is best known for starring in the Die Hard film franchise, as well as films including Pulp Fiction and The Sixth Sense. He stepped back from acting in 2022 after being diagnosed with aphasia, a condition that affects a person's ability to communicate. His family announced the following year that his condition had progressed to frontotemporal dementia, a form of the disease that tends to affect behavior, personality and language before it affects memory.
Frontotemporal dementia is less common than Alzheimer's disease and often develops earlier in life. Genetic testing for Alzheimer's risk typically looks at gene variants that can indicate a higher or lower lifetime chance of developing the condition, though a positive result does not guarantee a person will go on to develop it.
Willis and Moore, who were married for 13 years before divorcing in 2000, share three daughters: Rumer, Scout and Tallulah.
'A New Tenderness'
Rumer Willis has spoken repeatedly about how her relationship with her father has changed since his diagnosis. In May, she said on the vidcast The Inside Edit that she felt grateful to be able to spend time with him despite the difficulties his illness had brought.
She said she loved visiting him and was thankful that her daughter had gotten the chance to know him, adding that she did not know whether her sisters would have that same opportunity.
She said she now noticed a new side to her father, describing it as a sweetness. She said he had always been a dynamic man, but that there was now a tenderness in him, not quite fragility, that his public image may not have allowed him to show over the years.
She said she knew her father could feel the love she gave him, and that she felt his love for her in return, adding that this was what mattered most to her.
