Acting legend Bruce Willis tried various things to carry on his 40-year acting career before his dementia forced him to retire, with a new book revealing all about his final films
Hollywood legend Bruce Willis tried to carry on acting despite his dementia diagnosis, his wife reportedly claims in her upcoming book. The 70-year-old made his last on-screen appearances in action movies Assassin and the Detective Knight series in 2023.
It was in February of that year that his family made the heartbreaking announcement the actor – famous for films from Die Hard and Pulp Fiction to The Sixth Sense and Death Becomes Her – had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, a rare form of the illness, at the age of 67.
Prior to this the Hollywood legend had been diagnosed with aphasia, a condition that causes speaking or the ability to understand language is impaired. It was this that led to his retirement from acting in 2022.
Since then he has lived out of the spotlight while he is cared for by his family, including wife of 16 years Emma, ex-wife Demi Moore and the three grown up daughters he shares with Demi – Rumer, 36, Scout, 33, and 31-year-old Tallulah.
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But before his diagnosis was made public, it’s been revealed Bruce tried to find ways to solider on with his 40-year film career. In her new book – which is said to be a self-help book to help families going through the same thing, as well as a memoir – Bruce’s wife Emma opens up on life with the star as his condition has worsened.
Australian news site News.com.au reports that Emma’s book, The Unexpected Journey, will reveal how the actor continued to work for so long despite his condition.
It reports: “Before making his condition public, Willis had found ways to soldier on with his acting. Having directors scale down his dialogue and getting a trusted friend to feed him his lines through an earpiece on films, such as Assassin and the Detective Knight series.”
At first the deterioration in Bruce’s health wasn’t immediately obvious to anyone as he’s always had a slower speech pattern due his lifelong stutter. This meant his inner circle were not immediately concerned when he began stumbling over his words a bit more than usual.
In a previous appearance on chat show Parkinson, he even joked: “It’s how I got my sense of humour, because I realised, yeah I stutter, but I could make people laugh by doing stupid stuff.
“I also learned that when I got on stage, I magically stopped stuttering. You can still hear a little bit of it in my voice. You’ll still hear that little pause in my voice while I catch myself and think about what I want to say next.”
But as his symptoms became worse, Bruce sadly had to withdraw from acting and public life altogether. His family have since shared he now requires round-the-clock care and is ‘non-verbal.’
Sharing details about her upcoming book – which will be released in September – on Instagram, Emma said: “I’m honoured to share the cover of my first book, The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope and Yourself on the Caregiving Path.”
The 46-year-old continued: “Born from grief, shaped by love, and guided by purpose, this is the book I needed back when Bruce was first diagnosed and I was frozen with fear and uncertainty.
“This is the book I trust will help the next caregiver. It is filled with support, insight, and the hope needed to navigate this journey. This book is for all of us finding our way through the unknown with love, grit, and courage. You are not alone.”
Emma Heming-Willis: The Unexpected Journey will be released on September 9 and is available to preorder now
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