Bruce Willis’ wife Emma Heming shares sweet photo with youngest daughter

Bruce Willis’ family is rallying around him after it was announced he is retiring from acting as he battles cognitive disorder aphasia.

Bruce Willis is spending some much-needed quality time with his family after the shock news of his resignation from acting this week.

The prolific actor and wife Emma Heming are celebrating their daughter Mabel’s first double-digits birthday. It comes days after it was revealed Willis has been diagnosed with aphasia, which has been affecting his cognitive abilities.

In a sweet post on Instagram, Heming 43, wrote beneath a series of photos and videos of Mabel: “That’s right baby, dream BIG, keep reaching for the stars and remember to live it up! Happy 10th birthday to you Mabel Ray.

“You are all heart and soul. Thank you for choosing us because you are so loved and respected.”

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Willis and ten-year-old Mabel in a photo posted to Emma Heming's Instagram

It comes amid an outpouring of support from Willis’ family over the past few days, with his eldest daughter Rumer Willis posting a heartfelt post of her own on today along with an adorable throwback pic.

“I love you Daddio, to the (moon emoji) and Back. Thank you for teaching me to be so silly. I love laughing with you.,” she wrote.

Rumer thanked her dad for "teaching her to be silly". Picture: Instagram

The 67-year-old Die Hard star’s family announced on Wednesday that he would stepping away from acting after he was diagnosed with the brain disorder aphasia.

“To Bruce’s amazing supporters, as a family we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities,” the actor’s family wrote in a statement shared to each of their Instagram accounts.

They added that he will be “stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him”.

Bruce Willis is retiring from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, a health condition that affects the ability to communicate. Picture: Getty Images.

Nearly two dozen sources concerned about his wellbeing told the Los Angeles Times that Willis had been exhibiting signs of decline on set in recent years.

The Pulp Fiction star — who was often paid $2 million for two days of work — struggled with an inability to remember his lines and was fed his words through an earpiece known in the industry as an “earwig,” several sources told the paper.

A body double was used in most action scenes, particularly those that involved the use of prop guns, the LA Times reported.

On the set of Hard Kill in Cincinnati two years ago, Willis allegedly fired a gun on the wrong cue, according to the outlet, which cited two people familiar with the incident.

No one was hurt and the movie’s producer disputed that the incident occurred, but the actors and crew members were alarmed by the alleged discharge from the firearm, according to the report.

Willis has announced he’s leaving acting after a decades-spanning career. Picture: Getty Images.

Mike Burns, who directed Willis in last year’s action thriller Out of Death, sent the movie’s screenwriter an alarming email in June 2020, writing, “It looks like we need to knock down Bruce’s page count by about five pages,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

“We also need to abbreviate his dialogue a bit so that there are no monologues, etc.,” he added, according to the paper.

Burns said he had been unaware of the severity of Willis’ mental condition until the actor showed up on set in the film, which was among 22 movies the actor churned out in four years.

“After the first day of working with Bruce, I could see it first-hand and I realised that there was a bigger issue at stake here and why I had been asked to shorten his lines,” Burns told the LA Times.

Another startling episode occurred on the set of the low-budget flick White Elephant whose director Jesse Johnson said “it was clear that he was not the Bruce I remembered,” the paper reported.

When he asked the actor’s team about his condition, “they stated that he was happy to be there, but that it would be best if we could finish shooting him by lunch and let him go early,” Mr Johnson told the newspaper.

Two crew members reportedly said that Willis asked, “I know why you’re here, and I know why you’re here, but why am I here?”

Aphasia is a medical condition that can affect a person’s ability to speak, write and understand language, both verbal and written, according to the US medical organisation the Mayo Clinic. It typically occurs after a stroke or a head injury, reported The New York Post.