Bruce Willis’ wife details ‘severe’ symptom that made family realise something was wrong

The “severe” symptom that Bruce Willis’ wife described as having made his family aware of something could be wrong opened up to him.

The 69-year-old actor from Die Hard decided to take a step back from the spotlight and concentrate on his family. Following receiving aphasia in 2022, the actor announced his retirement. A year later, Bruce’s family confirmed he had also been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.

Fans have been kept updated on his health thanks to his wife, Emma Heming Willis, and his ex-wife Demi Moore. Emma, 46, acknowledged that the family began to realize something was wrong with him when his “language started to change.” “For Bruce, it started with language. He had a severe stutter as a child”, she explained.

“He went to college, and there was a theatre teacher who said, ‘ I’ve got something that’s going to help you’. Bruce realized that he could memorize a script without stuttering after taking the class. That’s what propelled him into acting”. She claimed that despite having a stutter, he was “good at covering it up.”

Emma wasn’t aware that his speech was a warning of a health issue at the time. “As his language started changing, it (seemed like it) was just a part of a stutter, it was just Bruce. In a conversation with Town &amp, Country, she said, “Never in a million years would I think it would affect someone so young to have dementia.”

He was not yet formally diagnosed with dementia until a few more years later. Emma said the disease was often ‘ misdiagnosed, misunderstood or missed’. His daughter Tallulah expressed her gratitude last year that his physical mobility was still unaffected, despite the iconic actor’s speech’s particularly deteriorating speech.

“I keep flipping between the present and the past when I talk about Bruce: he is, he was, he is, he was”, she said in a Vogue piece. I’m holding onto my father’s hopes, which I’m so reluctant to let go of, because of that. If there were more time, I’d always recognize some of his personality traits in me, and I’m so happy to be friends with him.

Many types of dementia, including FTD, develop gradually, leading to worsened symptoms over many years. There’s no single test to prove that you have it, but GPs may use blood tests, brain scans, questionnaires and lumbar punctures to diagnose the condition. According to the NHS, the latter refers to a spinal fluid test that “may be useful in ruled out Alzheimer’s disease as the cause of symptoms.”

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Source: Mirror