Emma Heming Willis was engaged when she met Bruce Willis

When Emma Heming Willis (50) met Bruce Willis (71) for the first time in the mid-2000s, there was already another man's engagement ring on her finger. The 50-year-old reported this during a podcast appearance. Heming Willis had previously mentioned that she was engaged before her current husband. But speaking to US journalist Hoda Kotb (61) on her show "Making Space", she now shared details about the events at that time.

How the first encounter went

"I met him around 2005, I would say, and we met at the gym, like most people in Hollywood probably do", said Heming Willis about the first encounters with her husband, who is suffering from frontotemporal dementia.

Bruce Willis' workout time was before hers, which is why there were repeated overlaps. She noticed "how warm and charismatic" her future husband was, "how funny". He always took the time to learn more about her.

Emma Heming Willis' mother reminded her of engagement

Eventually, she also told her mother about the encounter. "I met Bruce Willis, and he's really a lovely man", she told her. Her mother then said: "What are you doing? You're engaged." Her own response was initially defensive, as Heming Willis admitted: "I said, 'No, no, no.' But yes, I was engaged at the time."

Little is known so far about this earlier engagement; Heming Willis has hardly revealed any details publicly. Bruce Willis himself reportedly told a close friend shortly after the first encounter with Heming Willis that he wanted to marry her one day, as the magazine "Vanity Fair" reported in 2025.

"It wasn't until years later, after my engagement fortunately fell through, that we had our first date. And I just loved being around him", Heming Willis reported during her current podcast appearance about those years.

Wedding and birth of daughters

The couple presented themselves publicly for the first time in 2008, with the wedding following the next year. Today they have two daughters together, Mabel (14) and Evelyn (12), while Bruce Willis has three other daughters from his marriage to Demi Moore (63).