The Caregiver’s Journey:
Love, Loss, and Living Grief
A conversation with Emma Heming Willis
and David Kessler
Join David Kessler and Emma Heming Willis
When Emma Heming Willis’s husband, actor Bruce Willis, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, she found herself — like so many caregivers — navigating a world that felt both tender and disorienting.
Emma joins grief expert David Kessler to talk about her new book, The Caregiver’s Journey: Love, Loss, and Living Grief. Together, they’ll explore the often unseen grief that accompanies caregiving — and the love, guilt, devotion, and complexity that live alongside it.
Join us for a live, online conversation about what it means to care, to grieve, and to keep loving through it all.
Free Video
When someone you love is living with dementia, everything shifts — the rhythms of your days, your sense of self, even your relationship to time.
In this hour, Emma will share what she’s learned from walking this path with her husband Bruce Willis, from connecting with experts, and from the deep inner work of living grief day by day. In conversation with David Kessler, this time together will offer both reflection and real support.
This hour will hold space for:
- The quiet heartbreak of anticipatory loss
- What it means to keep showing up without losing yourself
- The pressure caregivers feel to be “strong” or “grateful”
- How love continues — even when roles, memories, or futures change
Whether you’re in the midst of caregiving, grieving what’s been lost, or supporting someone who is, you are welcome here.
This isn’t a list of easy answers. It’s an honest conversation about what helps — and what heals — when you’re holding love and loss at the same time.
Emma Heming Willis
Emma Heming Willis is an advocate, entrepreneur, wife, and mother dedicated to supporting caregivers and raising awareness for frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and brain health. When her husband, Bruce Willis, was diagnosed with FTD, Emma was thrust into the world of caregiving with little guidance. Through her journey, she has become a powerful voice for care partners, sharing her experiences to help others feel less alone and empowered to care for themselves while caring for a loved one.
She is also the founder of Make Time Wellness, a brand committed to getting the world to take women’s brain health seriously.
Get your copy of Emma's new book, The Unexpected Journey, here.
David Kessler
David Kessler is a grief specialist, speaker, and author of six books, including his latest bestselling book, Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief. He co-authored two books with Elisabeth Kubler Ross. His first book, The Needs of The Dying received praise from Saint (Mother) Teresa.
David’s personal experience as a child witnessing a mass shooting while his mother was dying in a hospital helped him begin his journey. For most of his life, David has taught physicians, nurses, counselors, police, and first responders about the end of life, trauma, and grief. However, despite his vast knowledge of grief, his life was turned upside down by the sudden death of his twenty-one-year-old son.
He now facilitates a new model of online grief groups that are attended by people worldwide and he leads one of the most respected online grief certificate programs. He is the founder of Grief.com which has over five million visits yearly from 167 countries.
