Hollywood actor Bruce Willis has lost much of his verbal and cognitive skills (Photo: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Movie star Bruce Willis He faces his biggest challenge today, and not exactly an acting one. Glenn Gordon CaronFriend and creator of Moonlighting, a television series that made her famous in the 80s, assured that the American actor’s communication skills have suffered a serious decline amid his battle with dementia, which he was diagnosed with in early 2023. He is currently depressed and “It’s not quite verbal anymore.”
This week, the filmmaker and producer told the New York Post that he visited the Die Hard protagonist almost every month after learning in March 2022 that he had been diagnosed with aphasia, a disorder caused by brain damage that affects the ability to communicate . spoken and written. Later, in early 2023, it was confirmed that this was because the actor was suffering from frontotemporal dementia.
Speaking about his visits with the 68-year-old actor, Caron confessed that Willis was a fan of reading, but he didn’t want anyone to know. However, he points out that he has currently stopped reading and sees that he is getting much worse due to the progression of his illness. “I feel like he knows who I am in the first three minutes,” he says. “He’s not entirely verbal, he used to be a voracious reader and now he doesn’t read anymore. They no longer have all of these language skills.”.
Filmmaker Glenn Gordon Caron, a friend of Willis, says that when he visits the actor he sees that he is “not quite verbal anymore” (Ray Tamarra/GC Images)
Although he is grateful that the actor is still alive, He affirms that “the joy of life” that characterized him has “disappeared”.. With sadness, he emphasized the abrupt change in his personality. “What makes his illness so overwhelming is that if you’ve ever spent time with Bruce Willis, there’s no one who feels more joy in life than him,” the film director continued. “He loved waking up every morning and trying to live life to the fullest, but now he lives as if he were seeing life through a screen door.”
Caron was the creator of “Moonlighting,” the hit ABC series that catapulted the German-born actor and in which the two formed a friendship that continues to this day. The screenwriter also managed to tell Willis that the famous series would be streaming on Hulu and made him understand what it was like before Willis’ health deteriorated. “I know he’s very happy that the show will be available to people, even though he can’t tell me,” Glenn said The post. “When I was able to spend time with him, we talked about it and I know he’s excited.”
The protagonist of Armageddon announced his departure from Hollywood in early 2022 after being diagnosed with aphasia. His family did not provide any further information about the causes. However, a year later it was revealed that Demi Moore’s ex-partner was suffering from frontotemporal dementia intractable disease characterized by severe and progressive cognitive impairment, behavior, language and personality.
Bruce Willis and his wife Emma Heming, who is his “care partner” amid his degenerative dementia (Getty Images)
He is currently cared for by his wife of 45 years, Emma Heming.with whom she shares her youngest daughters Mabel (11) and Evelyn (9). She describes herself as her husband’s “care partner” and said she wasn’t sure whether Willis was aware of her condition.
On the Today show, Heming revealed how he is coping with the devastating situation. “Dementia is hard on the person diagnosed, it is also hard on the family. And it’s no different for Bruce, me or our daughters. When they say it’s a family disease, it really is.” said.