Bruce Willis has aphasia, sad for him and his family

[justasking111]

Really upsetting to hear this. He gave so much pleasure to many over the years. A good family man too.

It is a really tough condition, and a relatively short survival expectation. Horrible for him and his whole family.

@ElizabethinherGermanGarden

It is a really tough condition, and a relatively short survival expectation. Horrible for him and his whole family.

A short time poor family. It's heartbreaking for everyone who loves him.

I read the announcement but I don't know much about the condition. I thought it was the result of a stroke? I didn't realise it was a terminal condition. How awful. Very sad.

I'm not sure it's terminal in itself? Usually linked to stroke or neurological conditions like Parkinsons or dementia.

I was really sad to hear this - so awful for his lovely family

I hope his retirement is very long

I looked after a man who had this.

He lost all ability to communicate, it took around 4 years.

He died about 15 years after diagnosis (and he was late 60s when diagnosed).

Its sad to think of Bruce Willis ending up unable to communicate at all

I hope he is surrounded by love and support throughout.

It's very sad.

It's a symptom of another condition. Could be caused by stroke, neurodegenerative disease or infection etc.
They're understandably only releasing the bare minimum information to explain his stepping back.

Awful news, poor man. So sad. I’ve never heard of the condition before.

Aphasia is a symptom. It isn't an illness. It means communication becomes increasingly difficult but something else may well bring his life to a close way before he completely loses his language skills.

Could be a form primary progressive aphasia - which is a rarer type of dementia . Affects speech and language (difficulty speaking, writing or reading, or difficulty understanding language) .

Aphasia in itself isn’t usually described as terminal as it can arise from eg a stroke - in that case it isn’t usually something that would get worse and worse .

I imagine he's got dementia or Parkinson's otherwise they'd say he has a brain tumour.

I read he has fronto temporal dementia which is incredibly cruel and quite rare I believe. It's very sad. He has always been a vibrant larger than life character to me

Oh, poor man :(

There have been rumours about him having some kind of memory loss/ degenerative condition doing the rounds on Reddit for a while now.

People suggesting that it’s why he’s been pumping out a string of movies one after the other, as a means to boost his income before he can’t work any longer.

FTD (frontotemporal dementia) is an awful disease and what I suspected when I read this news. My mother has it. It is not a good way to end a life.

I saw a Youtube video a few months ago where they were speculating that he might have something wrong with him. He's done loads of loads of straight to DVD/streaming movies recently where he is billed as the main star but only appears for about 10 minutes and doesn't do anything and appears completely disinterested.

My husband is a script writer, and ironically Bruce was meant to do one of his films this year but that's looking unlikely now. There have been pretty open rumours in the film industry that he has dementia. For a long while now, he wears an ear piece, and has people feed him his lines because he often can't remember them. Some days on sets he can't remember where he is and why and can get quite agitated. It's been something we've known about for a while, so it's sad to see people talk about his "fall from grace, he's a has been, he's just in total shit now" etc. The guy can still earn $4 million for a two day job, where he will just talk, nothing physical. Kudos to him for still working, and showing up day in day out when he is clearly struggling and has been for a few years.

his lines because he often can't remember them. Some days on sets he can't remember where he is and why and can get quite agitated.

That's completely heartbreaking

I read today that his two youngest children are only 10 and 7. I suppose he's churned out so many films in the last couple of years in order to bank as much for them.

@PangolinPie

I'm not sure it's terminal in itself? Usually linked to stroke or neurological conditions like Parkinsons or dementia.

This is correct.

Incredibly sad for anyone — his poor family.

Actually I remember reading that he and his wife and their two young kids spent much of the pandemic on a ranch with his ex wife Demi Moore and their adult daughters. I suppose that makes sense now in terms of being a support network for him and each other during lockdown.

Oh that’s so sad

There are different types of aphasia - primary progressive aphasia is a form of dementia in its own right (fronto-temporal, as pp have said) and the average life expectancy from diagnosis is five years. It is often accompanied/followed by Alzheimer's but not always. It is miserable.