Very sad news. Bruce Willis has been diagnosed with Dementia. He was already retired from acting.
Willis’ wife Emma Willis and ex-wife Demi Moore, as well as daughters Rumer, Scout, Tallulah, Mabel, and Evelyn Willis, shared the news via joint statement (via ET).
As a family, we wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for the outpouring of love and compassion for Bruce over the past ten months,” the statement reads. “Your generosity of spirit has been overwhelming, and we are tremendously grateful for it. For your kindness, and because we know you love Bruce as much as we do, we wanted to give you an update.
Since we announced Bruce’s diagnosis of aphasia in spring 2022, Bruce’s condition has progressed and we now have a more specific diagnosis: frontotemporal dementia (known as FTD). Unfortunately, challenges with communication are just one symptom of the disease Bruce faces. While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis.
FTD is a cruel disease that many of us have never heard of and can strike anyone. For people under 60, FTD is the most common form of dementia, and because getting the diagnosis can take years, FTD is likely much more prevalent than we know. Today there are no treatments for the disease, a reality that we hope can change in the years ahead. As Bruce’s condition advances, we hope that any media attention can be focused on shining a light on this disease that needs far more awareness and research.
The line that really gets to me is this one:
“We know in our hearts that – if he could today — he would want to respond”
How bad has this progressed? This sounds horrible. The fact that it's coming completely from his family and not him making a statement, even in writing, makes it seem like his state of mind is already far gone. They keep referencing him in the past tense. It's really sad.
Willis had been originally diagnosed Aphasia, a language disorder caused by damage in a specific area of the brain that controls language expression and comprehension.
Willis, who is just 67, has had a significant impact in American movies, especially in the action genre. The essential Bruce Willis films will always be “Die Hard,” “Pulp Fiction,” “The Sixth Sense,” “Unbreakable,” “12 Monkeys,” and “The Fifth Element.”