Bruce Willis, 54, had a fun appearance on the David Letterman show last night. He came out wearing a hat made of rubber bands and joked to Dave that it was a new product he had out called “the concussion buster.” He wasn’t promoting anything but he kept the gags coming and explained how he met his new wife, Victoria’s Secret model Emma Heming, now Emma Willis, 30:

Willis: We met at the gym… in Los Angeles. I was checking [it] out to go see if it would be good for me. She was coming out and our good friend Gunnar Peterson… he’s the trainer, owner of the gym. She was walking out and I said “Gunnar, let me just say one thing to you. Wow! Who is that?”

At the time, we had to remain friends for about three years… She had a guy…

Then she became available. I called her up and we went on a date.

Letterman: What did you do on the first date?

Willis: Dinner, few drinks, um… [pauses]
No, no, I saved it. I saved it up, I was very polite.

[Roughly transcribed from Bruce Willis’ appearance on The Late Show, aired 5/6/09]

When asked what Emma does for a living, Willis said “She tried acting briefly, and didn’t care for it. Does a little modeling now and looks after me ’cause I need a little looking after.”

Bruce said that Emma “fits in like a Swiss watch” with the rest of his family and told Dave that Emma was backstage. The camera cut to her and she smiled, waved and mouthed “I love you.”

Dave said “she looks a little younger” and Bruce joked that she “turns 18 next week.” When the camera showed Emma again she looked kind of embarrassed.

Willis joked that he was promoting his “small but pivotal role” as the next door neighbor in Beyonce’s film Obsessed and they showed a fake clip of him in a white undershirt, big belly and pushing a lawn mover as he watched the real fight scene from the movie through a window.

There didn’t seem to be a real point to Willis’ appearance as he doesn’t have a film out and was just shooting the breeze with Dave. He did explain how he met Emma, though, and that may have been an attempt to clear up a story that came out in the NY Post about six weeks ago that he met Emma when trying to cast roles for his 2007 movie, Perfect Stranger, and find a girlfriend at the same time.

BRUCE Willis, 54, and his new wife, Emma Heming, 30, didn’t meet through friends, as his pals have insisted in fact, the superstar actor hand-picked her as a perfect stranger.

An impeccable source tells Page Six: “During the casting of ‘Perfect Stranger’ [the suspense movie Willis made with Halle Berry two years ago], Bruce was very involved with the casting. In fact, you could say he was extremely involved no matter how minor the role.”

At Willis’ request, calls were placed to modeling agencies to fill the roles of extras and minor speaking parts.

Our casting source said, “He personally went through head shots and when the girls were called in to ‘read,’ he was there in the meeting. It was odd for the star of a movie to do so, but at the time he was single and I guess he needed a date.”

The casting sessions/blind dates went well enough. “He started dating [model] Tamara Feldman, with whom he coincidentally enough had a sex scene,” our insider said.

Then, Heming was selected for a small speaking part. Willis “started dating both Tamara and Emma but obviously, Emma eventually won out,” the source said.

[From The NY Post]

It sounds like Internet dating but with the added advantage that the entire pool is full of beautiful young women. However Bruce met Emma, it ended up working out well for them. Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise are rumored to have had a similar “casting call” start to their relationship, and they’re still together a few years later. It’s kind of their own business how they met, but you understand why celebrities feel they need to come up with a good story if it was more of a calculated effort than a “cute meet.”

I couldn’t find the full interview with Willis on Letterman online, but CBS has a highlight on the Late Show’s website featuring his fake role in Obsessed.

Bruce Willis and Emma Willis are shown at the Costume Institute Gala on 5/4/09. He is also shown outside The Late Show on 5/6/09. Credit: WENN.com