Tallulah Willis talks about being ‘dumped’ by fiancé and shares her struggle with anorexia

Tallulah Willis has revealed she was ‘dumped’ by her fiancé Dillon Buss in June – less than three months after her father Bruce publicly revealed that he’d been diagnosed with a degenerative brain condition and amid her own ongoing struggle with anorexia. 

The 29-year-old daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore laid bare her own devastating mental health issues in a candid essay for Vogue, in which she opened up about being diagnosed with ADHD, Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), and a severe eating disorder that saw her weight drop to just 84lbs. 

Tallulah revealed that her struggles reached a tipping point in June of last year when her fiance – whom she got engaged to in May 2021 – ‘dumped her’, recalling how her family ‘stepped in’ to help by sending her to an in-patient facility in Texas, where she was diagnosed with BPD. 

‘My boyfriend, who was by then my fiancé, dumped me,’ she wrote, before saying of her time at the treatment facility: ‘I was given a new diagnosis: Borderline Personality Disorder, an illness that impairs the ability to regulate emotions and find stability in relationships.’

Tallulah Willis has revealed she was ‘dumped’ by  fiancé Dillon Buss last year – three months after her dad Bruce shared his brain condition publicly and amid her own anorexia battle

The 29-year-old (seen in June 2022) revealed in a candid essay for Vogue that her weight plummeted to just 84lbs amid her anorexia battle in the spring of 2022

The 29-year-old (seen in June 2022) revealed in a candid essay for Vogue that her weight plummeted to just 84lbs amid her anorexia battle in the spring of 2022

In a devastating confession, the actress (seen with her father) revealed that she believes her father might have saved her from her anorexia had he been his 'full self' at the time

In a devastating confession, the actress (seen with her father) revealed that she believes her father might have saved her from her anorexia had he been his ‘full self’ at the time 

She also detailed her struggle with anorexia, revealing that at her worst, her weight dropped down to just 84 pounds and left her unable to even go for a walk near her home out of fear that she would find herself short of breath with nowhere to rest. 

Devastatingly, the actress opened up about how she believes her father might have helped her with her eating disorder had he not been battling his own debilitating condition, writing: ‘If he had understood, [he] might have scooped me up and said, “This is ending now.”‘

Tallulah announced her engagement to Bass in May of 2021. Dillon, who is a filmmaker, was involved with Tallulah for approximately a year before he popped the question to her.

At the time she gushed in her caption: ‘with absolute most certainty,’ presumably referring to the way she agreed to marry Dillon.

Having gotten sober when she was 20 years old, she says that she began restricting food because he was ‘the last vice she got to hold on to’ – and four years ago, she was diagnosed with the eating disorder.

‘For the last four years, I have suffered from anorexia nervosa,’ Tallulah — who recently shared that she has been trolled about her weight — wrote.

‘By the spring of 2022, I weighed about 84 pounds. I was always freezing. I was calling mobile IV teams to come to my house, and I couldn’t walk in my Los Angeles neighborhood because I was afraid of not having a place to sit down and catch my breath,’ she openly shared. 

Willis wrote that her body image battle began when she was just a young girl – recalling a time when, at age 11, she attended an event with her mom Demi and her then-partner Ashton Kutcher, only to face brutal public criticism over her appearance.

After she was 'dumped' by Dillon - whom she got engaged to in May 2021 - Tallulah's family sent her to an in-patient facility where she was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder

After she was ‘dumped’ by Dillon – whom she got engaged to in May 2021 – Tallulah’s family sent her to an in-patient facility where she was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder

As they were: Dillon, who is a filmmaker, was involved with Tallulah for approximately a year before he popped the question to her

As they were: Dillon, who is a filmmaker, was involved with Tallulah for approximately a year before he popped the question to her

Anorexia struggle: Willis also detailed her struggle with anorexia in the essay, writing she was diagnosed with the eating disorder four years ago

Anorexia struggle: Willis also detailed her struggle with anorexia in the essay, writing she was diagnosed with the eating disorder four years ago 

Health woes: The eating disorder caused her to drop down to just 84 pounds and unable to even go for a walk near her home

Health woes: The eating disorder caused her to drop down to just 84 pounds and unable to even go for a walk near her home

Better now: She then shared that after spending some time at an in-patient facility in Texas, she started doing better, though knows her recovery will 'probably be lifelong'

Better now: She then shared that after spending some time at an in-patient facility in Texas, she started doing better, though knows her recovery will ‘probably be lifelong’ 

After spending ‘two hours’ reading through the vicious comments being posted about her online, Tallulah says she was left ‘with the silent certainty of her own ugliness’, a thought that would continue to sit in the back of her mind for years.

At the age of 25, she was admitted to an in-patient facility in Malibu to undergo treatment for depression and ADHD.

Describing her loved ones’ reaction to her rapid weight loss, Tallulah recalls experiencing an ‘unhealthy deliciousness’ when people would make comments about her changing physique, although she notes that their surprise over her slender figure soon turned to concern when she continued to shed weight.

Now, Tallulah wonders what might have happened had her father — who’s been struggling with aphasia — been ‘his full self’ and realized what was going on with her, saying that she ‘likes to think he wouldn’t have let it happen’.

‘If he had understood, [he] might have scooped me up and said, “This is ending now,”‘ she said.

She then shared that after spending some time at an in-patient facility in Texas, following the end of her engagement, she started doing better.

‘By the time I left Texas, in October, I felt a lot better,’ she said, adding that she knows her recovery will ‘probably be lifelong’ but that she now feels capable of being ‘present’ in every aspect of her life, including her relationship with her father.

‘Most of my clothes are too small now, and in the morning, as I go through my closet, I have to resist the temptation to linger on that and urge myself to move on. Recovery is probably lifelong, but I now have the tools to be present in all facets of my life, and especially in my relationship with my dad.’ 

Elsewhere in the interview she candidly laid bare gut-wrenching new details about Bruce’s ongoing battle with the degenerative brain condition aphasia – revealing in searing detail how she knew ‘a long time ago’ that something was wrong with her father, but that she assumed he had simply ‘lost interest in her’ after the birth of his children with his second wife. 

She recalled witnessing her father’s steady mental decline, admitting that she and her family initially blamed the 68-year-old’s ‘unresponsiveness’ on his ‘Hollywood hearing loss’. 

Dad: Elsewhere in the interview she shared heartbreaking new details about dad Bruce's bitter struggle with degenerative brain condition aphasia

Dad: Elsewhere in the interview she shared heartbreaking new details about dad Bruce’s bitter struggle with degenerative brain condition aphasia

Family: As Bruce's condition worsened, Tallulah admitted that she thought her father had 'lost interest in her' after welcoming two children with second wife Emma (Bruce is seen with his ex Demi, wife Emma, and his five children)

Family: As Bruce’s condition worsened, Tallulah admitted that she thought her father had ‘lost interest in her’ after welcoming two children with second wife Emma (Bruce is seen with his ex Demi, wife Emma, and his five children)

However, as it grew more severe, she admits that she began to ‘take it personally’, writing: ‘Later that unresponsiveness broadened, and I sometimes took it personally. He had had two babies with my stepmother, Emma Heming Willis, and I thought he’d lost interest in me.

‘Though this couldn’t have been further from the truth, my adolescent brain tortured itself with some faulty math: I’m not beautiful enough for my mother, I’m not interesting enough for my father.’

Bruce’s devastating diagnosis was revealed to the world in early 2022, with his family – including his ex-wife Demi Moore, their children, and his current wife Emma – issuing a joint statement on behalf of the actor, while sharing details about his condition. 

Less than a year after sharing his first aphasia diagnosis, Bruce received another devastating blow when he was told that he has frontotemporal dementia (FTD) – an uncommon type of the disease that causes a deterioration in behavior, personality and language. 

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