Bruce Willis has dementia

VoR

VoR

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Only 67 which seems terribly young for such a thing. He had developed a fairly bad reputation for being grouchy and difficult to work with in recent years. This doesn't necessarily excuse that but maybe it contributed?

Bruce Willis has been diagnosed with aphasia, his family announced Wednesday.

Aphasia is a medical condition that can affect a person’s ability to speak, write and understand language, both verbal and written, according to the Mayo Clinic. It typically occurs after a stroke or a head injury.

“To Bruce’s amazing supporters, as a family we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities,” his family wrote in a joint statement shared to each of their Instagram accounts, adding that he will be “stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him.”

“This is a really challenging time for our family and we are so appreciative of your continued love, compassion and support,” the “Die Hard” star’s family continued. “We are moving through this as a strong family unit, and wanted to bring his fans in because we know how much he means to you, as you do to him.

“As Bruce always says, ‘Live it up’ and together we plan to do just that,” the statement concluded, and signed it from his wife Emma, his ex-wife Demi Moore and all of his children.

Willis, 67, has multiple projects completed as well in post-production, including “Vendetta,” “Fortress: Sniper’s Eye” and “White Elephant.” It’s unclear what will happen with “Fortress 3,” which is currently in pre-production.

Throughout the pandemic, Willis’ blended family — his ex-wife Moore and current wife Emma Heming — have been holed up at the family’s Idaho compound.
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This is very sad:
www.hollywoodreporter.com

Bruce Willis “Stepping Away” From Acting Career After Aphasia Diagnosis

"This is a really challenging time for our family and we are so appreciative of your continued love, compassion and support," said the actor's family in a statement posted Wednesday.
www.hollywoodreporter.com www.hollywoodreporter.com
There had been a bit of hubbub about him showing up in a lot of crappy cheapo films recently, in parts without many lines and that he could film very quickly/easily (sometimes even remaining sat down the whole time) - in hindsight it seems like he was doing it to make as much money as he could before getting to this point :(
 
Awful news. My grandmother and her two sisters were all diagnosed with dementia around 65. While my grandma lived about 12 years with it, her sisters only lasted 2-3 years. It’s incredibly sad to watch and its trajectory seems to be different for everyone.
 
Oh wow. I did wonder about him making all of those shitty films. He was never like Nic Cage and was in financial difficulty as far as everyone knew. Surely he doesn’t actually need to do them though?
 
Ellie said:
Oh wow. I did wonder about him making all of those shitty films. He was never like Nic Cage and was in financial difficulty as far as everyone knew. Surely he doesn’t actually need to do them though?
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Their filmographies over the last ten or so years has been a barrage of crap. Bruce has 8 or so films due for release this year.

Morgan Freeman too.
 
The stories of him on set instantly make me think of Rita Hayworth who most notably would have to pull out of a Broadway play in the 60s, but increasingly alienated herself on movie sets to the point of only getting work in Europe, and by her last picture, filmed in 1971, needed her dialogue fed to her line by line (later on the Carol Burnett Show she read her lines on screen via the "prop" of a menu). Her drinking had became a problem in the 1950s due to just one of her abusive husbands, but when her Alzheimer's developed in the next decade the two illnesses became rather blurred and a very public moment of distress for her in the 70s was blamed purely on booze. A few of her interviews have appeared on YouTube (whether it be audio recordings from film festivals or even from the STV archives) and her confusion at certain points is very sad to observe.

I wonder how much help Bruce can get here. What an action star he was and there was more too his acting than what we were usually served (Death Becomes Her for one). Perhaps going public will make any future work a lot easier for him and those around him. What a pity.
 
rhythmbandit said:
Their filmographies over the last ten or so years has been a barrage of crap. Bruce has 8 or so films due for release this year.

Morgan Freeman too.
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:o Why Morgan Freeman? Messy divorce or something? Bruce seems to be quite happily married with a couple of kids. No known current or historical alimony to Demi and the other kids are all grown up. Doesn’t appear to quash his millions on a lavish lifestyle either.
 
Has he lost his ability to speak, write and understand language, both verbal and written? Or is this as the condition progresses? Is it dementia/Alzheimer’s?
 
He is a great actor although most of his films aren’t to my taste I can always appreciate his fantastic talent.
 
VoR said:
Only 67 which seems terribly young for such a thing. He had developed a fairly bad reputation for being grouchy and difficult to work with in recent years. This doesn't necessarily excuse that but maybe it contributed?
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Obviously I am not his physician but I would say it almost certainly would have.
 
Rita said:
Has he lost his ability to speak, write and understand language, both verbal and written? Or is this as the condition progresses? Is it dementia/Alzheimer’s?
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Sorry, I see the title says dementia. I have never came across the term aphasia before.
 
I haven't seen any of the news stories about this use the term dementia, only aphasia.
 
Ellie said:
:o Why Morgan Freeman? Messy divorce or something? Bruce seems to be quite happily married with a couple of kids. No known current or historical alimony to Demi and the other kids are all grown up. Doesn’t appear to quash his millions on a lavish lifestyle either.
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Not sure, but some of the films he's been in recently have been awful. See 'Vanquish' from last year, a truly strange film that he had no business being near.
 
That’s sad

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Rita said:
Sorry, I see the title says dementia. I have never came across the term aphasia before.
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COB said:
I haven't seen any of the news stories about this use the term dementia, only aphasia.
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It sounds very similar to the condition that took Terry Jones of Monty Python - he had difficulties with his memory and then with recognition and then finally with language.
 
Well I wish I had read more before commenting as it's probably not great to get all 3 conditions mixed into 1, so apologies just in case it has offended to start talking about alzheimer's. My grandpa had it and is someone I just really looked up to so I do find it indulgent comforting in a way to start mentioning what comes to mind on it. Sorry to read that others have family suffering from any of these conditions - it's just rotten and they deserve as much dignity as we can give them, which in my case is to get the actual condition correct.
 
Top 10 Bruce Willis films. No sequels allowed:

1. Die Hard
2. Pulp Fiction
3. Death Becomes Her
4. The Fifth Element
5. The Sixth Sense
6. Unbreakable
7. 16 Blocks
8. 12 Monkeys
9. The Last Boy Scout
10. Lucky Number Slevin
 
Definitely sad. He's always seemed like a cool person and I've loved everything he's done.

And still handsome af.
 
That's a beautiful slideshow. I'm glad he's surrounded by loving family.
 
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