Bruce Willis isn't 'totally verbal', his ‘joie de vivre is gone’
Bruce Willis retired from acting in May last year as a result of aphasia. His family announced months later that he was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.
Actor Bruce Willis, who is suffering from dementia, is not 'totally verbal' said Moonlighting creator Glenn Gordon Caron. Talking to The New York Post, Glenn said that Bruce does recognise him but for the 'first one to three minutes' and that his 'joie de vivre is gone'. Bruce featured in Glenn's series Moonlighting from 1985-89. It is now streaming on Hulu. Talking about Bruce's reaction to it, Glenn said that he knows the actor is 'really happy...even though he can’t tell me that'. (Also Read | Bruce Willis’ wife opens up about frontotemporal dementia, admits ‘there is no cure’)
Glenn calls Bruce 'an extraordinary person'
Glenn said, “The process [to get Moonlighting onto Hulu] has taken quite a while and Bruce’s disease is a progressive disease, so I was able to communicate with him, before the disease rendered him as incommunicative as he is now, about hoping to get the show back in front of people. I’m not always quite that good but I try and I do talk to him and his wife [Emma Heming Willis] and I have a casual relationship with his three older children. I have tried very hard to stay in his life. He’s an extraordinary person. The thing that makes [his disease] so mind-blowing is [that] if you’ve ever spent time with Bruce Willis, there is no one who had any more joie de vivre than he.”
Glenn talks about Bruce's health
He added, “He loved life and … just adored waking up every morning and trying to live life to its fullest. So the idea that he now sees life through a screen door, if you will, makes very little sense. He’s really an amazing guy. My sense is the first one to three minutes he knows who I am. He’s not totally verbal; he used to be a voracious reader — he didn’t want anyone to know that — and he’s not reading now. All those language skills are no longer available to him, and yet he’s still Bruce. When you’re with him you know that he’s Bruce and you’re grateful that he’s there but the joie de vivre is gone.”
When was Bruce diagnosed with FTD
Bruce retired from acting in May last year as a result of aphasia. His family announced months later that he was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. “While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis...Today there are no treatments for the disease, a reality that we hope can change in the years ahead. As Bruce’s condition advances, we hope that any media attention can be focused on shining a light on this disease that needs far more awareness and research,” the family wrote at the time.
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