Bruce Willis' Wife Reveals She 'Contemplated' Divorcing The Actor As 'Things Just Started Falling Apart'

Emma Heming Willis has opened up about the struggles she faced before husband Bruce Willis' frontotemporal dementia (FTD) diagnosis.

The former model admitted she once feared their marriage was "crumbling." Subtle changes, like his stutter returning, also left her blaming herself before learning they were symptoms of FTD.

Despite challenges, Emma Heming Willis says Bruce Willis' "alpha male" spirit endures, and their love has deepened in new ways.

Before Bruce Willis was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), his wife, Emma Heming Willis, admitted she struggled to understand the changes in their marriage.

In a new Vanity Fair profile, the 49-year-old author and caregiver advocate reflected on how unsettled she felt at the time.

"I felt like my marriage was crumbling," Emma shared, noting that she even questioned whether divorce might be the only path forward.

Emma recalled worrying that Bruce, now 70, no longer loved her or had somehow become a different man entirely.

What she didn't realize was that his aphasia, and later, his FTD diagnosis, were beginning to show through his shifting behavior.

"What is going on? This is not the person that I married. Something is just so off. And I just couldn't figure it out," she said.

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey to promote her new book, Emma also revealed how the subtle signs of Bruce's FTD made her consider divorcing the movie star, as she did not understand their discussions.

"Conversations we had, he wasn't recalling," the actress told Oprah. "Our values just didn't seem to be matching anymore."

"Did you ever think about divorce?" Oprah asked, to which Emma replied that she "100 percent" thought about leaving Bruce.

"Because I just didn't understand how our relationship... We were so connected, so enmeshed, and yet all of a sudden, things just started falling apart," Emma shared.

"I didn't understand the conversations we were having," Emma stated. "We just weren't aligned, and I didn't know why. And he wasn't raising his hand about anything, and I did contemplate divorce."

Emma, who shares daughters Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11, with the "Die Hard" star, has since learned that many of those shifts were connected to the progression of his illness.

The actress, married to Bruce since March 21, 2009, told People Magazine in a recent cover story that she sensed something was wrong years earlier, even if she couldn't name it at the time.

"FTD doesn't scream, it whispers," Emma explained. "It's very gray to know where Bruce stopped and where his disease kicked in."

The former model recalled noticing subtle shifts, like the return of his stutter, but "never in a million years thought that was a symptom of FTD."

"Conversations weren't really aligning anymore, and our relationship started to shift. It was hard to put my finger on why and what was happening," Emma said.

With no explanation, she admits she blamed herself for their marital troubles.

"I thought it was something I was doing in our marriage that was not working anymore," she admitted. "It's like you're banging your head against a brick wall. You're just like, 'Where is the miscommunication coming? What is happening within our relationship?'"

However, Emma says one thing hasn't changed about Bruce, even as he navigates frontotemporal dementia (FTD), is his "alpha male" personality.

Speaking with Vanity Fair, the former model reflected on her husband's enduring presence in their family life nearly three years after his diagnosis.

Bruce has "always made decisions" in their family," she shared. "He knows what he wants, and he knows what he doesn't want. He is an alpha male."

She admitted that the "Pulp Fiction" star's take-charge nature was one of the qualities that drew her in. "I loved it," she said.

In a chat with People ahead of the release of her new book, "The Unexpected Journey," Emma reflected on how their love story has shifted but deepened over time.

"It has meant so much to be able to meet him where he's at, to enjoy this time with him," she said.

Before his diagnosis, "Life was busy ... full and fun. If the girls were swimming in the pool, he would come home, dive in with his clothes on just to get a laugh."

Although Bruce's dementia struggle has changed the way he speaks, Emma says it hasn't silenced the deeper ways they connect.

"I feel like our love story has only grown and developed more," she shared.

Emma describes Bruce as fully rooted in the present: "Bruce is very present in his body, and there is something so lovely and wonderful about that. He's not thinking about what happened yesterday or what's happening in the future. He is very grounded in today."

While words don't always come easily for Bruce, Emma says their bond transcends language.

"Sometimes, love does not need words," she told the publication. "I can just sit there with Bruce, and we look at each other and we laugh and smile and that, to me, is more than anything."

Emma's new book, "The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Caregiving Path," is available wherever books are sold.