Bruce Willis' battle with dementia: Actor is not totally verbal, reveals Moonlighting creator

Bruce Willis' struggle with dementia continues to get tougher. Recently, Bruce's wife, Emma Heming Willis, talked about her husband's health status as she went on to reveal that Bruce's diagnosis had changed the entire family. Weeks later, Moonlighting creator and Bruce's close friend Glenn Gordon Caron is giving an update on Willis’ condition.

On Tuesday, Glenn spoke to the New York Post, and he went on to reveal that Willis' communication has started getting affected, and he's not totally verbal now.

Saying that he often tries to visit the actor and his family, Glenn told the outlet,reports 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.”

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“I have tried very hard to stay in his life.”

“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 [joy of living] than he,” the director added further.

He added, “He loved life and … just adored waking up every morning and trying to live life to its fullest.”

Further revealing about Bruce's condition, Caron said that the actor is unable to communicate now, “My sense is the first one to three minutes he knows who I am,” he said before adding,“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,” he noted, “but the joie de vivre is gone.”

Caron and Bruce have worked together in the series Moonlighting. In the show, which ran from 1985 - 89, Bruce played the role of David Addison Junior.

Bruce Willis' wife talks about dementia.

On the episode “Today” to bring awareness to the disease during World Frontotemporal Dementia Awareness Week, Emma said that her family’s life has changed since the diagnosis.

“What I’m learning is that dementia is hard,” Emma said. “It’s hard on the person diagnosed. It’s also hard on the family. And that is no different for Bruce, or myself or our girls. When they say that this is a family disease, it really is.”

Bruce Willis has retired from acting

Willis, one of the most-loved actors of the '80s and early 1990s, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in 2022. The actor's family announced his retirement from acting as a result of the diagnosis.

At the time, their statement read, “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.”

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