Following the devastating aphasia diagnosis in 2022, a condition which affects one’s ability to communicate, actor Bruce Willis has been keeping a low profile. It was later confirmed by his family that the Die Hard star has been in fact battling frontotemporal dementia.
Along with the news regarding his health, Willis’ family announced he was retiring from acting.
“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.
“As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him.”
Willis’ career in film has been an impressive one. Best known for his roles in the iconic films Die Hard, Pulp Fiction, and Sixth Sense, among others, this actor’s impact on the world of film is huge to say the least.
In the months and years following his diagnosis, his family, including his daughters, his ex-wife, actress Demi Moore, and his wife Emma Heming have been sharing updates on the actor’s health condition.
Most recently, Emma Heming penned down a reflection of feeling sadness as the family is doing their best to navigate Willis’ condition. Among the rest, she wrote in her blog that holidays “look different.”
“The holidays have a way of holding up a mirror, reflecting who we’ve been, who we are, and what we imagined they would be. When you’re caring for someone with dementia, that reflection can feel especially poignant. Traditions that once felt somewhat effortless require planning- lots of planning. Moments that once brought uncomplicated joy may arrive tangled in a web of grief. I know this because I’m living it. Yet despite that, there can still be meaning. There can still be warmth. There can still be joy. I’ve learned that the holidays don’t disappear when dementia enters your life. They change,” she wrote.
“Before anything else, I want to say this, it’s okay to grieve. Grief doesn’t only belong to death. It belongs to change, and the ambiguous loss caregivers know so well. It belongs to the realization that things won’t unfold the way they once did, it belongs to the absence of routines, conversations, or roles that were once so familiar you never imagined them ending.”
Days before Christmas, Emma reflected on the past and offered insight into her husband’s feelings about the holiday, writing he “loved” this time of the year, including the “energy, family time, the traditions.”
“He was the pancake-maker, the get-out-in-the-snow-with-the-kids guy, the steady presence moving through the house as the day unfolded. Dementia doesn’t erase those memories,” she continued. “But it does create space between then and now. And that space can ache.”
In September, Emma opened up about the heartbreaking decision to have Willis moved into a nearby one-story home staffed with full-time caregivers.
“I find myself, harmlessly, cursing Bruce’s name while wrestling with the holiday lights or taking on tasks that used to be his,” she said. “Not because I’m mad at him, never that, but because I miss the way he once led the holiday charge.
“Yes, he taught me well, but I’m still allowed to feel annoyed that this is one more reminder of how things have changed,” she continued.
Emma encouraged the families who are in the same position as hers to embrace the change and create new memories.
“This holiday season, our family will still unwrap gifts and sit together at breakfast. But instead of Bruce making our favorite pancakes, I will,” she wrote.