Tallulah Willis with dad Bruce Willis (Image: Instagram)
The daughter of renowned actors Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, Tallulah Willis, was honored at the Autism Speaks gala.
Tallulah, 30, revealed her autism diagnosis, which she had received a year earlier, on Instagram in March. The post, a throw-back video of a fancy event with her father, shows Tallulah rubbing Willis’s head and playing with his ear as he interviews. She captioned the post, “Tell me you’re autistic without telling me you’re autistic.”
In response to fan questions on the post at the time, Tallulah explained, “This is the first time I’ve ever publicly shared my diagnosis. Found out this summer and it’s changed my life.”
Tallulah has made sure to use her social platform to spread information about Autism and destigmatize the disorder.
On September 18, Tallulah appeared on The Today Show and shared deeper details on her diagnosis with Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie. Afterward, she posted a carousel of photos from the show, along with a caption praising the hosts for their warm welcome. She wrote, “Shared how later in life diagnosis is common for females and told them I knew how proud my dad was of me! Can’t believe I did this! Being a level one autistic person with a platform, it’s very important to me to continue speaking on this when I know others in my new community cannot.”
According to a press release, Tallulah was honored for her “commitment to promoting acceptance and raising awareness about autism [which] exemplifies the mission of Autism Speaks and reflects her deep passion for the cause.”
The Autism Speaks Los Angeles Gala was held last month in L.A. Tallulah’s older sister Rumer introduced her; “From the very start, [Tallulah] stood out — not just for her creativity, which was wild and boundless, but for the way she seemed to exist on a slightly different frequency from the rest of us…While other kids were coloring inside the lines, she was busy inventing her own worlds. And honestly, most of us were lucky just to keep up.”
Rumer remembered the years she and her family watched her sister struggle without understanding why. “It was like she had all the ingredients for peace but was stuck trying to make a recipe without the instructions…when she finally received her autism diagnosis, it wasn’t a revelation so much as a homecoming…It gave her permission to be exactly who she is, without apology or explanation…since then, I’ve seen her grow into herself with a grace and confidence that are breathtaking. It’s like watching someone finally exhale after holding their breath for years.”
In her speech, Tallulah explained her own relief after learning of her diagnosis. “To have like a real person that I trusted [and that] the person I trusted [also] trusted, say, this is where you are highly skilled, and you are communicative and things like that, but you are on the spectrum, it gave me permission to be gentle on myself.”
She said, “All of these things I thought made me dramatic or demanding or high maintenance. My diagnosis has changed my life because it’s allowed me to have such self-love, self-forgiveness and tenderness.”
Autism disorder has a long history of being overlooked in girls, which has frequently resulted in late diagnosis in many women. Studies indicate that the behavioral or cognitive issues related to autism tend to be easier to miss in females as opposed to males due to females’ tendency to camouflage (or ‘mask’) their symptoms.
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