Bruce Willis Retires: Aphasia Diagnosis Revealed By Family

There’s really no other way to put it: this is heartbreaking news coming from the family of Bruce Willis, who they announce will retire acting after an aphasia diagnosis. Aphasia is a neurological disease that causes cognitive issues, affecting one’s ability to speak, understand language, to read and to write. Willis was reportedly having issues on the set of some of his recent films.

Here is the statement released by Willis’ family, including ex-wife Demi Moore who he has remained close to over the years, posted on daughter Rumer Willis’ Instagram account…

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.

This is a really challenging time for our family and we are so appreciative of your continued love, compassion and support. We are moving through this as a strong family unit, and wanted to bring his fans in because we know how much he means to you, as you do to him.

As Bruce always says, “Live it up” and together we plan to do just that.
Love,
Emma, Demi, Rumer, Scout, Tallulah, Mabel, & Evelyn

Willis’ resume speaks for itself. After breaking out in the ’80s through the series Moonlighting, he became one of the biggest action stars on the planet with the Die Hard franchise. He continued that with iconic performances in Pulp Fiction, The 5th Element, Armageddon, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Glass, Moonrise Kingdom, The Last Boy Scout, Sin City, and so many more.

We and many others have cracked a lot of jokes at Willis’ expense due to the overload of terrible straight-to-VOD action movies he was doing that seemed to minimize his activity in them. Perhaps he already knew what was up and was doing what he could the best he could.

As a guy who has devoted an entire video series to action movies, Bruce Willis’ impact on my love of movies is undeniable. I don’t want to act like the man is already gone, because he’s not, but do want to acknowledge him for the many years of entertainment he provided.

 

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Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.