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Bruce Willis’s youngest daughter Tallulah Willis has opened up about what lessons she learned from her father that have helped her navigate her autism diagnosis.
In a recent interview with Us Weekly, she discussed Bruce, who is currently coping with frontotemporal dementia, instilling in her to not be hard on herself that is something she is trying to do more of since receiving her autism diagnosis back in March at 29 years old.
“I would say that one of the things that has been really beautiful to explore is this ability to give grace to myself. And that was something that my dad really instilled in me at a young age,” she told the outlet. “He was a big proponent of being gentle with yourself, and it’s very easy for me to judge myself, particularly, to judge all of the aspects of my life that are my autism. I have been in a world where I’ve experienced those things to be deterrents.”
“As I’m exploring what it means to give grace to myself, I definitely can see the impact my parents have had. They have really tried to encourage slowing down, which is so hard for [me]. It’s probably one of the hardest things in the world,” she continued.
Tallulah first revealed her diagnosis in an Instagram clip that was captioned, “Tell me you’re autistic without telling me you’re autistic” that featured a video of her as a child rubbing her father’s head.
Looking back on her childhood, she’s realized that she had autistic traits throughout her life despite her late diagnosis. “I would get very overstimulated by sound,” she recalled, mentioning one of her elementary school teachers would have her “sit under the desk and plug my ears” if the environment became too loud.
“I just don’t know if there was enough information for someone to say, ‘Hey, maybe she’s autistic.’ But there were signs,” Tallulah added. “There were things that were present, and I really can only notice those signs in retrospect.”
When it came to going public with her diagnosis and posting her Instagram video, she told Us Weekly it was “never a hesitation.”
“It was just more going, ‘Well, how do I want to share this? Because this is a really big deal. This is an important element of who I am,’ and it ended up being that video with my Dad, and it was so sweet,” she admitted.
“And admittedly, I didn’t check with anyone before I posted it. It wasn’t like it was a curated discussion between me and my team or my family. It was just, I loved that video so much, and I thought that is something that can be related to, and I think it really had an impact on people.”
Last month, Tallulah provided an update on her father’s health. “He’s doing stable, which in this situation is good, and is hard,” she told Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb on the Today Show. “There’s painful days, but there’s so much love.”
“He’s doing stable, which in this situation is good, and is hard,” she told the talk show hosts. “There’s painful days, but there’s so much love.”
She explained that since the Die Hard actor’s diagnosis, she’s learned to spend her time more wisely and be appreciative of any time she is able to spend with her family, especially her dad.
“It’s really shown me to not take any moment for granted, and I really do think that we’d be best friends,” she said. “I think he’s very proud of me. You have to be in the moment. You have to be present.”
