Bruce Willis’ aphasia and frontotemporal dementia have progressed to the point he can barely speak, read, or walk.
Hollywood legend Bruce Willis continues to live with frontotemporal dementia, a condition that has gradually progressed since he was first diagnosed with aphasia in 2022.
According to reports from 2023 and 2024, the beloved actor has become largely non-verbal and no longer reads. He is also reported to face some motor difficulties, though no specific details on his mobility have been confirmed by his family in recent months.
In April 2025, Willis’ family shared a public update reassuring fans that while the disease remains progressive, his condition is considered stable. Loved ones emphasized their ongoing support for the actor and the strength of their close-knit family during this difficult chapter.
There has been no recent official confirmation of a further decline in Willis’ health beyond what has previously been reported. Despite ongoing public concern and speculation, the actor’s family has remained transparent and appreciative of the outpouring of love from fans around the world.
Frontotemporal dementia affects areas of the brain associated with behavior, personality, and language. It is distinct from Alzheimer’s and often strikes at a younger age. Willis’ case has brought increased awareness to this rare and challenging condition.
As his family continues to advocate for understanding and compassion, fans everywhere continue to send support and strength to Bruce Willis and his loved ones.
Internet Trolls Have Found A Way To Make Bruce Willis’s Tragic Health Situation Even Worse
Bruce Willis is one of the greatest movie stars of all time, a beloved figure, and by all accounts a really great guy. His health has been failing for years now, and it’s due to a slow, horrifically tragic illness. Everyone feels terrible about it, especially those closest to him.
Unfortunately, internet engagement farmers have now found a way to make the whole situation sadder by trying to destroy Bruce Willis’s biggest fans.
Bruce Willis knew what was happening to him years before it became debilitating. He reached a point where he was no longer able to perform the way he had at the height of his career. But the actor wanted to keep making money for his family.
So Willis signed up for a long string of low-budget direct-to-DVD movies that tricked fans into paying to watch them by putting Bruce’s face on the cover. Unfortunately, he was barely present in most of these movies, which were all utterly terrible.
At the time, no one knew about Bruce Willis’s health situation, so fans rightly called him out for participating in what was, basically, a fraud. In the absence of other information, they assumed he’d gotten greedy.
Now we know what was going on, and the whole thing is tragic. However, the hot new trend is shaming and attacking those Bruce Willis fans who, back then, tried to warn people about what those terrible movies really were, before they wasted their money on them.
And now, engagement farmers have taken advantage of that and begun rallying up a lynch mob to shame anyone who pointed out that, hey, maybe you shouldn’t spend your money on those terrible Bruce Willis cash-in movies.
Their argument seems to be that Willis was somehow entitled to participate in movie fraud because he was sick, and that anyone who called him out on it should be shamed in the town square. If that’s your point of view, leave now and never return.
What’s really tragic is that the people who called out Willis for making those movies are his biggest fans. We know that because they watched movies that looked this terrible, just because they thought he might be in them.
Now that they know Willis is ailing, those same people are also his biggest cheerleaders. They’re the ones leaving messages of support for his family and boosting them when they have an update.
What we should be doing, instead of somehow justifying movie ripoffs, is celebrating his best work. There’s a lot of it. Bruce Willis’s last great movie before he dove into the world of direct-to-DVD cash-ins was the time travel movie Looper. Maybe we should start right there.
Let’s celebrate his career and the amazing man he’s been. That’s where the Bruce Willis discussion should be pointed, not at each other.
She and the Die Hard actor, who she married in 2009, share daughters Mabel Ray, 13, and Evelyn Penn, 11, and he is also a dad to daughters Rumer, 36, Scout, 33, and Tallulah, 31, with ex-wife Demi Moore, to whom he was married from 1987 to 2000.
Emma shared a glimpse into her weekend
Sharing a look at what she and her girls got up to, a trip to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, Emma first shared a sweet snap of her enjoying a picnic with Mabel and Evelyn.
She next shared a photo of the famed museum itself, followed by one of Evelyn laying down in the grass with a cap over her face, and some more snaps of the girls enjoying the museum’s sights.
“The Getty gave us art, stunning gardens, sunshine, and the perfect spot for a picnic,” Emma wrote in her caption, adding: “Grateful for this slow Sunday with the girls.”
© InstagramFans were then quick to take to the comments section under the post and gush over it, with one suggesting: “So pretty Emma, your two girls are so like you and Bruce, your eldest is a mini you and your youngest is so her Dad, love seeing your posts.”
Others followed suit with: “Sunday at the Getty… a great idea!” and: “Great pics with your beautiful family,” as well as: “You are such a good mom, love the normalcy of your life with the girls. You should be very proud,” plus another also commented: “I love the Willis family! All of you guys are absolute gems!”
© InstagramEmma has previously opened up about how she has approached discussing her husband Bruce’s condition with their daughters. In April 2022, his family announced that he was diagnosed with aphasia, and the next year, they shared his updated diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD).
Speaking with Town & Country about how she has been coping the last couple of years, and how she spoken to Mabel and Evelyn about Bruce’s health, Emma said: “I’m trying to find that balance between the grief and the sadness that I feel, which can just crack open at any given moment, and finding joy,” and though it was a heartbreaking diagnosis to receive, she noted: “This disease is misdiagnosed, it’s missed, it’s misunderstood, so finally getting to a diagnosis was key so that I could learn what frontotemporal dementia is and I could educate our children.”
© Instagram“They’ve grown up with Bruce declining over the years. I’m not trying to shield them from it,” she added, and explained: “What I learned from our therapist was that if children ask questions, they’re ready to know the answer. If we could see that Bruce was struggling, I would address it with the kids so they could understand.”
“But this disease is chronic, progressive, and terminal. There is no cure,” she further shared, noting that “obviously, I don’t like to speak about the terminal side of this with them, nor have they asked,” however, “they know that Daddy’s not going to get better.”
What happened to Bruce Willis? The Die Hard actor’s health decline from aphasia to dementia explained
Bruce Willis, 70, is retired and alive as his family details his progression from a 2022 aphasia announcement to a specific 2023 frontotemporal dementia diagnosis and ongoing caregiver-focused support in 2025.
Bruce Willis, 70, is alive (as of July 20, 2025) and living in retirement with his blended family while managing frontotemporal dementia (FTD) after first publicly disclosing an aphasia diagnosis in March 2022 that forced him to step away from acting.
The March 30, 2022, retirement announcement cited aphasia, a language disorder impairing communication, and a February 16, 2023, family update specified the underlying neurodegenerative cause as FTD, clarifying that speech problems were only “one symptom.”
His wife Emma Heming Willis and ex‑wife Demi Moore, together with daughters Rumer, Scout, Tallulah, Mabel, and Evelyn, have issued coordinated updates emphasizing unity, caregiving challenges, and preserving quality time. Recent 2025 posts by Emma and the older daughters show affectionate moments rather than clinical details, underscoring privacy alongside advocacy.
Bruce Willis remains widely celebrated for redefining the modern everyman action hero through Die Hard while sustaining a four‑decade screen career spanning action, drama, science fiction, comedy, and indie work before health‑driven retirement.
Bruce Willis’ health journey: from public aphasia disclosure to frontotemporal dementia specificity
Born March 19, 1955, Walter Bruce Willis built a prolific career before neurological symptoms culminated in the March 2022 family statement announcing retirement for aphasia, followed by the February 2023 clarification of an FTD diagnosis.
A progressive degeneration of frontal/temporal lobes that can initially manifest as language decline (primary progressive aphasia) and broaden to behavioural/executive impairment.
FTD currently has no disease‑modifying cure. Management focuses on multidisciplinary support, speech‑language therapy for communication strategies, safety routines, caregiver education, and emotional/behavioural symptom management, which family advocacy has helped publicise. As per the AFTD statement report dated February 16, 2023, the Willis family stated,
Family support, caregiving realities, and 2025 updates
The Willis family’s unified messaging (wife Emma, ex‑wife Demi, five daughters) frames updates around gratitude, presence, and caregiver realities, illustrating a model of cooperative co‑parenting extended into elder care.
Emma has emerged as a public advocate for dementia caregiver support, describing the early post‑diagnosis period as disorienting and resource‑scarce while channeling that experience into awareness initiatives and forthcoming caregiving materials.
As per People exclusive report dated May 27, 2025, Emma Heming Willis said,
“We received a diagnosis and sent away with no hope, no guidance, no nothing, and I really had to figure out how to put resources into place,…And it was a lot of searching the Internet, trying to figure things out.”
Daughters’ 2025 social media posts (e.g., Tallulah sharing affectionate photos, Demi’s birthday tributes) reinforce that Bruce remains engaged in intimate family interactions despite reduced conversational capacity, while fans respond with supportive messages.
Demi Moore wrote “Quality time with our BW” for his 70th birthday post. Anniversary and Father’s Day tributes in 2025 continued the theme of honoring shared history and sustaining emotional bonds amid progressive decline.
Career legacy, retirement decision, and final screen appearances
Bruce Willis’ retirement crystallized a legacy spanning television breakthrough (Moonlighting) to iconic action (Die Hard franchise) and genre‑stretching turns (Pulp Fiction, 12 Monkeys, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable) while later years featured a dense slate of low‑budget productions whose accelerated schedules and simplified scenes, in retrospect, aligned with emerging cognitive challenges.
His final released feature was the 2023 sci‑fi action thriller Assassin, followed closely by late‑career titles such as Detective Knight: Independence (also 2023), after which no new acting work was undertaken post‑diagnosis revelation. As per a instagram post from his daughter Rumer Glenn Wilis dated March 30, 2022, the family statement read in the captions,
“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.”
Biographical overviews and timelines reiterate his five daughters (Rumer, Scout, Tallulah, Mabel, Evelyn), marriages (Demi Moore 1987–2000, Emma Heming Willis since 2009), awards (Golden Globe, Primetime Emmys), and status as a central figure in modern action cinema whose case has elevated public literacy on aphasia and FTD.
As of mid‑2025, there is no reported therapeutic breakthrough altering his prognosis. Coverage centers on compassionate caregiving, maintaining dignity, and utilizing his visibility to highlight underrecognized dementias and caregiver needs, a shift from celebrity narrative to public health education.
Tallulah Willis Responds to Criticism After Sharing Photos of Bruce Willis Amid Health Battle
Tallulah Willis is sharing her perspective.
After a few social media users responded negatively to the 31-year-old sharing a photo of her dad Bruce Willis amid his battle with frontotemporal dementia, also known as FTD, Tallulah—whose mom is Demi Moore—shared insight into why she decided to share a moment with him publicly.
“As a family we use our discretion when posting,” she wrote back to a fan who shared criticism under the June 23 post. “Today was a great day filled with smiles. I made the judgement call to show that to the world, because I know what he means to everyone.”
Indeed, in one photo of the post, Tallulah is all smiles as she holds the Die Hard star’s hand as he sits in a chair and she sits next to him on the ground. Another sees her fiancé, Justin Acee smiling with his arm wrapped around Bruce—who is also dad to Rumer, 36, and Scout, 33 with ex Demi as well as Mabel, 13, and Evelyn, 11, with wife Emma Heming Willis.
Alongside the sweet moments, Tallulah gushed in the caption, “Sunday funday at Grams! Grateful.”
And while Tallulah faced some backlash for sharing photos of her dad amid his health battle, she is not the only one of his children to speak publicly about their family’s struggle. Earlier this month, Rumer shared a vulnerable message to Bruce for Father’s Day.
“Today is hard, I feel a deep ache in my chest to talk to you and tell you everything I’m doing and what’s going on in my life,” Rumer wrote in a June 15 post alongside photos of her dad. “To hug you and ask you about life and your stories and struggles and successes.”
Rumer continued in her post, “I know you wouldn’t want me to be sad today so I’ll try to just be grateful reminding myself how lucky I am that you’re my dad.”
Amid Bruce’s diagnosis, which the family first shared in 2023, his loved ones have been open about the ups and downs of his battle—and Tallulah herself previously shared why.
“On one hand, it’s who we are as a family,” she explained during an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show in November 2023. “But also, it’s really important for us to spread awareness about FTD.”
As she put it, “If we can take something that we’re struggling with as a family and individually, to help other people, to turn it around, to make something beautiful about it, that’s really special for us.”
Keep reading for a deeper look inside the Willis family…
Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for goopBlended Family
Bruce Willis stepped out with wife Emma Hemming Willis to celebrate the release of ex Demi Moore‘s 2019 memoir Inside Out. He was joined by his three daughters with the G.I. Jane actress, Rumer Willis, Scout Willis and Tallulah Willis.
Instagram/Emma Heming WillisAdventure Is Out There
In 2021, Bruce and Emma went on a hike with their daughters Evelyn Willis and Mabel Willis.
Instagram/Demi MooreBig 7-0
In March 2025, Demi posted this family photo of herself with Bruce and Tallulah. “Quality time with our BW,” she wrote in celebration of the actor’s 70th birthday. “Who was feeling the love! Keep it pouring in!”
Instagram/Demi MooreHeap of Love
Bruce received a big cuddle from his three oldest daughters and Demi in 2025.
Instagram / Rumer WillisDaddio’s Little Girl
“Oh Daddio, to be loved by you is such a gift,” Rumer wrote in an Instagram tribute to her father in March 2024. “You are the funniest, most tender, charming, out of this world silly talented and magical papa. Looking through these photos this morning I am just filled with the deepest gratitude that we chose to spend this life together. I am your first baby and man sometimes I wish I could be tiny enough to just cozy up on your chest again and laugh and cuddle you.”
Instagram / Demi MooreTallulah’s 30th Birthday
In February 2024, Demi shared this pic of her ex-husband with the youngest of the three daughters they share together, writing, “Showering our @buuski with love today on her 30th birthday.”
Instagram / Emma Willis“Grateful and Thankful”
In November 2023, the actor celebrated his first Thanksgiving since being diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia earlier that year. His wife Emma shared this photo from Bruce’s 68th birthday party from March.
“I’m grateful and thankful to know this kind of love,” she wrote. “Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving.”
Phil Faraone/VMN18/Getty Images For Comedy CentralAll Smiles
The actor posed with his ex-wife and their daughters Rumer and Tallulah backstage at his Comedy Central roast in 2018.
InstagramThree Generations
Bruce became a grandpa in April 2023 when Rumer welcomed a baby girl named Louetta.
InstagramNewest Addition
The entire family got together to celebrate the birth of Rumer’s baby.
Instagram/Emma Heming WillisBackstage Buddies
Bruce had two special vistors when he starred in Broadway’s Misery in 2016.
Bruce Glikas/FilmMagicBroadway Bunch
The family showed up in full force to support Rumer’s 2015 Broadway debut as Roxie Hart in Chicago.
Instagram/Emma Heming WillisFeeling Festive
“I put my camera on a ladder, set the timer, and crossed my fingers,” Emma captioned this family Christmas photo. “Now that’s 2020 for you.”
Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for goopMovie Date
Bruce took his three oldest daughters to the Over the Hedge premiere in 2006.
Instagram/Emma Heming WillisSweet Kisses
The dad of five shared a sweet moment with daughter Mabel.
Chris Polk/FilmMagicGiving Back
Tallulah, Scout and Rumer joined their dad at a Bruce Willis Charity Foundation in 2005.
Instagram/Emma Heming WillisDancing With the Fam
The family celebrated Rumer’s Dancing With the Stars win with Val Chmerkovskiy.
Instagram/Rumer WillisPolaroid Memories
“What a privilege it is every day to be your daughter,” Rumer captioned this throwback photo. “I love you so much. You are the coolest cat in town.”
Instagram/Emma Heming WillisA Birthday to Remember
Emma rang in her 43rd birthday in 2021 with Bruce and their daughters, as well as Rumer and Demi.
Instagram‘Tis the Season
The family spent Christmas 2022 together.
Gregg DeGuire/WireImageStar Status
Bruce was joined by mom Marlene and his three oldest daughters when he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006.
Instagram/Emma Heming WillisHappy Haunts
The action star dressed up with Mabel and Evelyn on Halloween 2021.
Instagram/Tallulah WillisGetting Silly
Tallulah jokingly captioned this photo of herself and dad Bruce making silly faces, “high drama club.”
Instagram/Emma Heming WillisSnow Squad
Evelyn and Mabel hit the slopes during a family ski trip.
Gregg DeGuire/WireImageGang’s All Here
The family, including Demi’s then-husband Ashton Kutcher, stepped out to watch Rumer in 2008’s The House Bunny.
Instagram/Emma Heming WillisDisney Magic
Bruce and Emma took their kids to Walt Disney World in 2017.
Instagram/Emma Heming WillisProud Parents
“First time performing in a play for these two!” Emma wrote on Instagram 2018. “Mabel played Molly and Evelyn as Sandy in an Off-off-off-off-off-off Broadway [winking emoji] production of Annie. The whole cast and production was stellar—Mom and Dad couldn’t be prouder.”
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