Bruce Willis’ wife Emma Heming shared her thoughts on Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa’s deaths from a caretaker’s perspective.
Heming, who is her husband’s caretaker after he was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in 2022, told her Instagram followers that she would not “normally comment” on the pair’s “tragic passing,” but insisted lessons can be learned.
Hackman, 95, and his wife Arakawa, 65, were found dead at their New Mexico home by a maintenance worker last month, along with their dog Zinna.
“I do really believe that there is some learning in this story. It’s just made me think of this broader story, and that is that caregivers need care too and that they are vital,” Heming said in her post. “It is so important that we show up for them so that they can continue to show up for their person.”
The model explained that there is a “misconception” that caregivers don’t need any extra help and are very put-together people who have everything “figured out.”
“I don’t subscribe to that,” the Instagram video continued. “I think that we need to be showing up for them so that they can continue to show up for their person.”
Heming captioned the video: “Caregivers need care too. Period. Full stop.”
Heming has been open about the highs and lows of caring for her husband since his diagnosis. In 2023, while thanks fans for wishing Willis a happy birthday, she began crying.
“I have started the morning by crying as you can see by my swollen eyes and snotty nose,” she said in a video posted to her Instagram Stories. “I just think it’s important that you see all sides of this.”
She continued: “I always get this message where people always tell me, ‘Oh you’re so strong. I don’t know how you do it.’ I’m not given a choice. I wish I was but I’m also raising two kids in this.”
“Sometimes in our lives, we have to put our big girl panties on and get to it. And that’s what I’m doing,” she said. “But I do have times of sadness, every day, grief every day, and I’m really feeling it today on his birthday.”
Heming’s Instagram post comes a few days after police and medical examiners provided an update regarding Hackman and Arakawa’s deaths.
During a press conference on Friday, Heather Jarrell, chief medical examiner at the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, revealed that the couple died from natural causes — but a week apart. It is likely that Arakawa died first, Jarrell said.
Arakawa was found with an open prescription bottle and pills scattered on the bathroom counter. Her death was attributed to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare and potentially deadly disease that targets the lungs.
Hantaviruses, which can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, are spread through the urine, feces and saliva of infected rodents. Just under 730 cases were identified in the U.S. between 1993 and 2017. Nearly all cases were west of the Mississippi River.
Hackman was found on the ground near the kitchen in a “mudroom,” an entryway where shoes and coats are often removed, and appeared to have fallen “suddenly.” A cane and sunglasses were found on the ground nearby.
His death was tied to heart disease with Alzheimer’s disease contributing, the medical examiner said on Friday.
