Bruce Willis diagnosed with aphasia, 'stepping away' from acting, family says

[mystery-ak]

Bruce Willis diagnosed with aphasia, 'stepping away' from acting, family says
By Rachel Scully - 03/30/22 01:50 PM EDT

Actor Bruce Willis is stepping away from his career due to being diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities, his daughter Rumer Willis announced on Wednesday via an Instagram post that included a statement from the family.

"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," the statement reads. "As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him."

  Aphasia is a language disorder caused by "damage in a specific area of the brain that controls language expression and comprehension" and can leave a person "unable to communicate effectively with others," according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

The statement said that Bruce Willis and his family are "moving through this as a strong family unit" but wanted to bring awareness to the "Die Hard" actor's fans "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 continues, before being signed with the names of Willis's wife, Emma Heming Willis, his ex-wife, Demi Moore, and his children.

https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/600368-bruce-willis-diagnosed-with-aphasia-stepping-away-from-acting

[Kamaji]

He's only 67.

[mystery-ak]

He's only 67.

So sad....

[libertybele]

Very sad indeed. I wonder if he suffered a stroke??

[DB]

The jab? A clot in the brain would do it.

Did it develop over years or did it suddenly happen?

[libertybele]

The jab? A clot in the brain would do it.

Did it develop over years or did it suddenly happen?

I didn't think of that, but certainly the 'jab' may be the culprit.

Aphasia is caused by damage to the language-dominant side of the brain, usually the left side, and may be brought on by:

    Stroke.
    Head injury.
    Brain tumor.
    Infection.
    Dementia.

[mountaineer]

[mountaineer]

This reportedly goes beyond simply being at a loss for words.

Concerns about Bruce Willis’ declining cognitive state swirled around sets in recent years
By Meg James, Amy Kaufman
March 30, 2022 8:48 PM PT

Just days before Bruce Willis was scheduled to turn up on the set of one of his latest action films, the director of the project sent out an urgent request: Make the movie star’s part smaller.

“It looks like we need to knock down Bruce’s page count by about 5 pages,” Mike Burns, the director of “Out of Death,” wrote in a June 2020 email to the film’s screenwriter. “We also need to abbreviate his dialogue a bit so that there are no monologues, etc.”  ...

According to those who have worked with the elder Willis on his recent films, the actor has been exhibiting signs of decline in recent years. In interviews with The Times this month, nearly two dozen people who were on set with the actor expressed concern about Willis’ well-being.

These individuals questioned whether the actor was fully aware of his surroundings on set, where he was often paid $2 million for two days of work, according to documents viewed by The Times. Filmmakers described heart-wrenching scenes as the beloved “Pulp Fiction” star grappled with his loss of mental acuity and an inability to remember his dialogue. An actor who traveled with Willis would feed the star his lines through an earpiece, known in the industry as an “earwig,” according to several sources. Most action scenes, particularly those that involved choreographed gunfire, were filmed using a body double as a substitute for Willis.   ...

L.A. Times
It certainly could be some form of early-onset dementia. My late father was pretty far gone by age 67 (died at 69 with the Lewy Body variant). At least Bruce is retiring and his family can care for him. Too bad we can't say the same of our demented president.