Bruce Willis: What happened to the award-winning actor

It's hard to believe it's only been 18 months since award-winning Die Hard actor Bruce Willis had to step away from the profession he loved. At the time, his family revealed he had been struggling with aphasia, a neurological disorder that impairs the expression and understanding of language.

"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 Willis family said in a statement in March 2022.

"As a result of this and with much consideration, Bruce is 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.

"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," they concluded.

But in February this year, in a statement signed by his wife Emma, ex-wife Demi Moore, adult daughters Rumer, Scout and Tallulah and daughters with Emma - Mabel and Evelyn, it was revealed that it had progressed into frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a common form of incurable dementia that causes changes in behaviour, personality, language, and movement.

"I've known that something was wrong for a long time," Tallulah Willis, his 29-year-old daughter with former wife Demi Moore wrote in an essay for Vogue in June this year.

"It started out with a kind of vague unresponsiveness, which the family chalked up to Hollywood hearing loss: 'Speak up! Die Hard messed with Dad’s ears.' Later that unresponsiveness broadened, and I sometimes took it personally," she added.

Most of the time Tallulah is able to cope with the changes to her dad, especially when she goes to visit him and he still lights up in her presence but other times it can be devastatingly hard for her.

"I remember a moment when it hit me painfully: I was at a wedding in the summer of 2021 on Martha’s Vineyard, and the bride’s father made a moving speech," she recalled.

"Suddenly I realised that I would never get that moment, my dad speaking about me in adulthood at my wedding. It was devastating. I left the dinner table, stepped outside, and wept in the bushes."

Now Bruce's wife, Emma has given a further update on his condition speaking to the US Today show for World Frontotemporal Dementia Awareness Week.

"What I’m learning is that dementia is hard," Emma said. "It’s hard on the person diagnosed. It’s also hard on the family. And that is no different for Bruce, or myself, or our girls. When they say that this is a family disease, it really is."

When Today host Hoda Kotb asked whether Bruce was aware of what was going on, Emma replied: "Hard to know. It’s hard to know."

Emma also called the diagnosis "the blessing and the curse" but added that there was still a lot of joy for her family.

"It’s just really important for me to look up from the grief and the sadness so I can see what is happening around us. Bruce would really want us to be in the joy of what is," she added. "He would really want that for me and our family."

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