Bruce Willis' family announced he would step away from acting in 2022; the actor was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in 2023

Bruce Willis, diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in 2023, recently made a rare public appearance — for good reason.

Wife Emma Heming Willis shared a black-and-white Instagram Reel of the 69-year-old 'Die Hard' star shaking hands with emergency workers.

Bruce Willis recently made his first public appearance since 2022 after being diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. In an Instagram post, his wife, Emma Heming Willis, shows the 69-year-old actor, who grew up in Salem County, shaking hands and greeting first responders battling the ongoing California wildfires.

If that doesn’t warm your heart, I don’t know what will.

Bruce Willis’ wife Emma Heming shared a new video of the actor thanking first responders amid the wildfires in Los Angeles, marking his first appearance since dementia diagnosis. Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag have lost everything after their Pacific Palisades home burned down in the California fires last week.

Emma Heming shared a clip that featured Bruce Willis, wearing a New York Yankees cap, shaking hands with a police officer

Bruce Willis retired from acting in 2022 and was then diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. He's rarely been seen in public since then.

Willis was diagnosed first with aphasia -- a condition where the brain's ability to understand or express language is impaired, according to the National Institutes of Health -- in 2022 before receiving an additional diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia in 2023, according to his family.

The iconic actor, in the midst of a dementia diagnosis, took time to visit first responders battling the Los Angeles wildfires in a rare new video.