The perennial debate about whether Bruce Willis' 1988 action classic Die Hard qualifies as a Christmas movie has finally received a definitive verdict from someone who knows best - his wife, Emma Heming Willis.
The Festive Verdict
While speaking at the End Well 2025 conference about her family's holiday celebrations, the 47-year-old model and author made her position clear to People magazine. 'I think it's important to put Die Hard on because it's a Christmas movie,' Emma declared, settling one of cinema's most enduring controversies.
Her statement carries particular weight given the film's strong Christmas connections. The opening scene shows John McClane - played by Bruce Willis, now 70 - arriving at LAX International Airport carrying a Christmas gift before heading to his wife's holiday office party. The soundtrack further reinforces the festive atmosphere with classic Christmas tunes including Winter Wonderland, Let it Snow, Christmas in Hollis, and Ode to Joy.
A Surprising Reversal
Emma's endorsement comes as something of a surprise given her husband's previously stated position on the matter. Back in 2018, during his Comedy Central roast, Bruce famously joked: 'I did this roast for one reason and for one reason only — to settle something once and for all. Now, please listen very carefully: Die Hard is not a Christmas movie! It's a goddamn Bruce Willis movie.'
The actor, who retired from acting in 2022 amid his battle with dementia, had been quite firm in his assessment. This makes Emma's recent declaration particularly noteworthy, especially as she now serves as his primary caretaker following his frontotemporal dementia diagnosis.
Navigating the Holidays with Dementia
The wife and mother-of-two opened up about managing the festive season while caring for her husband, describing the experience as both challenging and meaningful. 'It's joyous. It's just different,' she explained. 'Bruce loved Christmas and we love celebrating it with him. It just looks different, so we've kind of adapted to that.'
Emma, who married Bruce in 2009 and shares daughters Mabel, 13, and Evelyn with him, emphasised the importance of maintaining traditions while creating new memories. The Emmy-winning actor also has three daughters with ex-wife Demi Moore, 63: Rumer, 37, Scout, 34, and Tallulah, 31.
She acknowledged that the holidays can be particularly difficult for families coping with dementia but stressed the value of preserving positivity. 'You have to learn and adapt and make new memories, bring in the same traditions that you had before,' she explained. 'Life goes on. It just goes on. Dementia is hard, but there is still joy in it.'
The former model has documented her caregiving journey in her book, The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Caregiving Path, published in September. She revealed the emotional difficulty of recording the audiobook, sharing on Instagram: 'I've lived with these words in my head for so long, and today I spoke them out loud for the very first time. I could hardly get through page 1, the dedication page, without crying.'
Bruce's family initially revealed in 2022 that the actor had been diagnosed with aphasia, a condition causing communication difficulties. By February 2023, they confirmed it had progressed into frontotemporal dementia (FTD) - a degenerative brain disease affecting speech, behaviour, and cognitive function.
Through it all, Emma remains committed to finding light in the darkness, declaring: 'It's important that we don't paint such a negative picture around dementia.' Her Die Hard declaration not only settles a long-running cinematic debate but demonstrates her determination to maintain festive spirit and family traditions despite the challenges they face.
