Bruce Willis, the iconic star of Die Hard and Pulp Fiction, is facing a tough challenge in his life. The 67-year-old actor has been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a degenerative brain disorder that affects his behavior, personality, and language skills.
His family revealed his condition in February, after announcing his retirement from acting in 2022. They said that Willis had aphasia, a symptom of FTD that causes difficulties with speech and communication.
Since then, Willis’ condition has progressed and he is no longer fully verbal, according to Glenn Gordon Caron, the creator of Moonlighting, the Emmy-nominated detective series that launched Willis’ career in the 1980s.
Caron, who has been in touch with Willis and visits him once a month at his home, gave an update on his friend’s health to The New York Post on Tuesday. He said that Willis still recognizes him for the first few minutes, but then seems to lose track of who he is.
“He’s not totally verbal; he used to be a voracious reader — he didn’t want anyone to know that — and he’s not reading now. All those language skills are no longer available to him, and yet he’s still Bruce,” Caron said.
He added that Willis has lost his “joie de vivre”, the joy of living that characterized his personality and charisma. “When you’re with him you know that he’s Bruce and you’re grateful that he’s there, but the joie de vivre is gone,” Caron said. “If you’ve ever spent time with Bruce Willis, there is no one who had any more joie de vivre than he.”
Caron said that Willis used to love waking up every morning and living life to the fullest, but now he lives as though “seeing life through a screen door.” He praised Willis’ wife Emma Heming Willis, who has been caring for him and sharing some of their moments on social media.
Heming Willis, a 45-year-old model who married Willis in 2009 and has two daughters with him, appeared on Today last month to talk about her husband’s condition. She said that it was hard to know if Willis was aware of his dementia, and that they were trying to make the best of every day.
FTD is the most common form of dementia in people under 60
Frontotemporal dementia, or FTD, is a group of brain disorders that involve the deterioration of nerve cells in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. These regions are responsible for functions such as judgment, conduct, empathy, language, speaking, and writing.
FTD is the most common form of dementia in people under 60 and often begins between the ages of 40 and 65. It affects about 50,000 to 60,000 people in the U.S., according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
FTD differs from Alzheimer’s disease, which is more common in older people and involves memory loss and disorientation. FTD patients develop abnormal deposits of one of two proteins — tau or TDP-43 — but not both. Alzheimer’s patients also build up tau, but it is a different form from the one involved in FTD.
FTD is hard to diagnose, as there are no definitive tests or markers for it. Doctors rely on symptoms and brain scans to rule out other types of dementia. About a third of FTD cases are genetic, but there are no known risk factors for the non-genetic cases.
There is currently no cure or treatment for FTD, only supportive care and therapies to manage the symptoms and improve the quality of life for patients and their families. The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD) is a non-profit organization that provides information, resources, and support for people affected by FTD.
The AFTD also funds research to find better ways to diagnose, treat, and prevent FTD. The organization expressed its gratitude to Willis’ family for sharing his story and raising awareness about FTD.
“We are grateful to Bruce Willis’ family for sharing their story publicly,” said Susan L-J Dickinson, AFTD’s CEO. “Their courage will help others facing this disease know they are not alone — while advancing public understanding of FTD’s impact.”
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