Bruce Willis' wife is reflecting on the difficult decision she had to make amid the actor's battle with frontotemporal dementia.

In an ABC News interview with Diane Sawyer that aired on Tuesday, Aug. 26, Emma Heming Willis said she and her family decided to place Willis, 70, in a new home with professional caregivers that would be safer for the actor during his health battle.

It was "one of the hardest decisions," Heming Willis, 47, explained. "But I knew, first and foremost, Bruce would want that for our daughters. You know, he would want them to be in a home that was more tailored to their needs, not his needs."

Heming Willis said this is her and her family's "second home," so they are "there a lot." She added, "It is a house that is filled with love and warmth and care and laughter."

Heming Willis shared in the special that the legendary "Die Hard" star "is still very mobile" and "in really great health overall. It's just his brain that is failing him." The actor's main symptom is a loss of language, she said.

"The language is going, and, you know, we've learned to adapt," she told Sawyer. "And we have a way of communicating with him, which is just a … different way."

When asked if her husband recognizes her, Heming Willis said, "I know he does. When we are with him, he lights up. He's holding our hands. We're kissing him. We're hugging him. He is reciprocating. He is into it. So that's all I need. I don't need him to know that I am his wife and we were married on this day and this is – I don't need any of that. I just want to feel that I have a connection with him, and I do."

Heming Willis also said the moment her husband's disease began is "really gray" but that he slowly started to become more "quiet" and less talkative. "When the family would get together, he would kind of just melt a little bit," she said. She initially wondered whether he was having hearing issues.

Willis retired from acting in 2022 after his family shared that he had been diagnosed with aphasia. They later announced in 2023 that his "condition has progressed" and he received a "more specific diagnosis" of frontotemporal dementia.

What is frontotemporal dementia?

According to the Mayo Clinic, frontotemporal dementia is an "umbrella term for a group of brain diseases that mainly affect the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain," and it can lead to a loss of speech.

Heming Willis has been married to Bruce Willis since 2009, and they share two daughters: Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11. The actor was previously married to Demi Moore, with whom he shares three daughters: Rumer, 37; Scout, 34; and Tallulah, 31.

Contributing: Jay Stahl, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bruce Willis' wife reveals 'one of the hardest decisions' in actor's health journey

Reporting by Edward Segarra and Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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