The Mayo Clinic defines aphasia as ‘a condition that affects your ability to communicate’ that ‘can affect your speech, as well as the way you write and understand both spoken and written language.’

 

The actor is father to Mabel Ray, 12, (L) and Evelyn, 10, with wife Emma

 

Rumer Willis, Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, Scout Willis, Emma Heming Willis and Tallulah Willis were pictured at an event in LA on September 23, 2019

The actor’s family took to Instagram March of 2022 to reveal he was stepping away from acting following his diagnosis with aphasia

The actor’s family did not announce what caused his bout with aphasia, which has a number of potential causes.

The condition could occur following a head injury or stroke, or can be a predecessor to a brain tumor or Alzheimer’s disease.

Patients who are living with the condition are typically treated with speech therapy and taught ways to communicate non-verbally.

Bruce Willis makes rare appearance in public amid dementia diagnosis

ruce Willis has mostly kept out of the public eye since he was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. But the former actor, 69, was spotted out and about in Studio City, California in a rare public appearance.

Photos obtained from Backgrid of the star showed he was sitting in the passenger seat of a vehicle, donning a baseball cap and a striped shirt with a collar. The caption revealed he was “enjoying a drive around Studio City with his bodyguards.”

© AKGS

The actor keeps a low profile these days, having retired from acting in 2022 when his family announced he had aphasia. The year after, they revealed he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.

© ANGELA WEISS

Bruce’s wife Emma Heming Willis, and his youngest daughters Mabel and Evelyn, were not photographed with the actor, although it goes without saying that they have remained stalwarts in supporting him through his care since amid his diagnosis.

Emma has become a key face in raising awareness for FTD as she now acts as a carer for her husband of 15 years. A key figure in the community of carers who all take care of family members with the illness, she most recently filmed herself cycling six miles on a stationary bike to help the cause Pedal For Spencer.

The Die Hard actor’s entire family has come together amid his diagnosis, including his ex-wife Demi Moore and their three daughters Rumer, Scout and Tallulah. The St. Elmo’s Fire actress even attended Bruce’s daughter Mabel’s graduation ceremony in June.

Tallulah gave a recent update about her father’s health, speaking to E! News. She said: “It’s the same which in this situation is a good thing.”

She added: “Our visits have so much love and I feel that, that overarches anything for me, it’s being able to have that connection.”

“I know he knows how much I love him, I know how much he loves me, I know how much he loves all of us,” she said, adding: “It’s a hard thing for anyone going through this, but it has really created an opportunity for more love for my family.”

Rumer previously opened up about her father’s relationship with his granddaughter Louetta, gushing that Bruce was doing “really good” and she often takes the little one one over to see him.

According to Rumer, her daughter “loves” going to see Bruce, which she thinks is “so sweet.”

Bruce Willis’ daughter gives update on his health, shares famous parents’ advice about working in Hollywood

Bruce Willis’ eldest daughter with Demi Moore, Rumer Willis, gave an update on her father as he continues his battle with dementia.

“He’s great. Yeah, yeah, doing OK. Thank you so much for asking,” Rumer told Fox News Digital at the premiere of her new film, “My Divorce Party,” at the 24th Annual Beverly Hills Film Festival on Wednesday night.

“I think, for me, through this experience, what’s been so incredible is my dad is so beloved, and that’s been so evident in the transparency with which we’ve been sharing. And I think if there’s any way sharing our experience brings hope — whatever comes forward as a family — that can have an effect and bring any sort of hope, comfort to someone else experiencing that, then to me, that’s … everything.”

As she continues following in her famous parents’ footsteps, Rumer also revealed that what she picked up on set from them wasn’t always specific to acting.

“I feel like what I learned from them was just by watching. I feel like being on set, one of the biggest things I would say, just by proxy, you treat everyone with the same amount of respect, whether you’re in front of the camera, behind the camera, from the littlest job. Like, it doesn’t matter,” she said.

“Everyone is there, and their participation and effort and energy they’re putting in is just as important as what you’re doing.”

WATCH: RUMER WILLIS GIVES UPDATE ON DAD BRUCE WILLIS’ HEALTH

The 35-year-old took that lesson with her for her new comedy, “My Divorce Party,” in her role as Ren, one of a group of women supporting a friend through a divorce, determined to live it up on settlement money so that an ex-husband doesn’t see a dime.

“My character was written kind of as the straight man, and I was like, ‘Man, all right, everyone else is so funny. How am I going to find a way to find my moments and find a way to really give this character some silliness?” Rumer explained on the carpet at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatre in Hollywood.

Willis said her character in her new movie, “My Divorce Party,” was written “kind of as the straight man,” but the actress tried to give her some “silliness.” (Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)

“But it’s really fun. There’s a lot of depth. I think that there are so many female-driven comedies that are like, ‘OK, but we’re still sexy, like we still have to be hot.’ And women are not like that when we’re together. We’re f—ing disgusting,” she added with a laugh.

“Like, we talk about the nastiest, gnarliest s— together, and we try and pretend that we don’t. And we keep it on lock, but I love that there’s a film like this. I feel like ‘Bridesmaids’ kind of walked so we could run a little bit. And I want to see more things like this. I hope this inspires more female writers and directors to create more content that has a little bit more of that kind of realness.”

Rumer is also a busy mom to daughter Louetta Isley with her partner, Derek Richard.

“Honestly, everything’s rewarding. She’s my best friend. I’m away from her for an hour, and I miss her,” she gushed.

The actress did admit she was suffering from a lack of sleep, less from Louetta and more from her own experience shifting into mom mode.

“I feel like, as soon as you get pregnant, maybe in the second or third month, you start getting a bit of insomnia, and it’s your body preparing you to be more wakeful. And I don’t think I’ve ever gotten back to the deep sleep zone,” she said. “She’ll be asleep through the whole night, and I’ll be like, ‘What’s happening? Is there danger?’”

“But I’m very lucky, I feel very blessed,” she added. “I know not everyone has as positive and gentle mothering experience as I have had. Louetta is the most amazing kid. She’s so happy and wonderful and smiley and joyful all the time.”

She also shared some of Louetta’s milestones.

“She’s got four teeth. She eats like a champ. This kid loves food, wants to try everything, is not picky. She’s almost walking, which is wild. She knows how to get off the bed herself, which is very impressive. She says ‘mama,’ and she just started smooching me the other day. And she goes like, ‘Mwah,’ and it’s like I’m melted. I’m on the floor in a puddle,” Rumer explained.

“[They’re] so sweet. They’re the cutest. Everyone in my family is literally obsessed with her,” she said, joking that people only come over to hang out with the baby and not her.

The “Dancing with the Stars” alum opened up on some of the motherhood advice she is, and in some cases isn’t, taking from Moore.

“It’s funny. My mom will be like, ‘You know you should do this with her.’ And I’m like, ‘Actually, based on what I’ve been reading, you don’t do that anymore,’” Rumer explained. “But I think there’s just more information than there was.

“But what I think is amazing is when you’re in that transition from maiden to motherhood, and you have a really tight relationship with your mom, there’s an interesting separation that occurs almost as you are kind of discovering your own path of the mother. And it creates separation in an interesting way because there are things obviously that I take from her and that I love, but there’s also stuff that I really want to discover myself.

Rumer said she occasionally turns down advice from Moore, but “there are things obviously that I take from her and that I love.” (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

“Whether that ends up 10 years down the line causing whatever we inevitably do to screw up our children in different and opposite ways, right? I think, as parents, you want to give your kids whatever you didn’t have. I think the beauty in what I’m learning is she might not need what I didn’t get because she’s her own person.

“So, I think the best advice I could give parents other than don’t take advice from anybody is just really, see who your child is and allow them space to figure out how to work and move with them and really trust yourself. I think that’s been the biggest lesson for me is trusting myself because I’m her mom, and she lived inside my body. I know her better than anybody.”

Rumer also thanked her parents for allowing her and her sisters, Tallulah and Scout, to express themselves, regardless of their celebrity status.

“[They] really allowed us the space to be expressive, whether it was through our clothing, through what we wanted to do, through making silly faces, or just, you know, expressing ourselves with a weird dance and silliness. And I think that’s so important because, a lot of the time, especially when you’re growing up as a ‘nepo baby’ or whatever, that you have to act a certain way or be a certain way. And I appreciate that we’re kind of left of center as a family,” she said.

“My Divorce Party” is available now via video on demand.