“As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him,” the statement read in part. “With Bruce Willis, there’s almost a model for how he features in these movies,” Daro Film Distribution executive Adam Champ told Vulture in 2021, less than a year before the aphasia revelation. Willis has remained largely quiet on the matter, but a representative of the actor gave The Hollywood Reporter a summary of his issues. “He sat behind his monitor. He didn’t interact with the actors.” Following the actor’s retirement due to an aphasia diagnosis, Smith publicly apologized. Bruce is the oldest of four children, including a sister, Florence, and brothers Robert and David. In 2001, the family was struck by tragedy with the death of Robert Willis, who died of pancreatic cancer.
What is frontotemporal dementia?
Willis starred alongside Bill Murray, Edward Norton, and Frances McDormand in Moonrise Kingdom (2012). According to reports, Willis abandoned his spokesperson role in 1988 when it was clear that his drinking was becoming an issue. The famed actor joined Alcoholics Anonymous and went entirely sober – though he told GQ that he now occasionally indulges in a glass of wine with dinner. If someone you care about has developed a drinking problem, you may fear that this habit will prevent them from achieving what they want in life, whether it’s a family, a career or some other means of fulfillment. However, as bleak as things may seen when an alcoholic is at their worst, recovery is always a possibility, and may lead to even greater accomplishments. In 2010, Willis starred with Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and other action heroes in The Expendables.
Bruce Willis halts acting career after diagnosis with cognitive disorder
In February 2023, Willis and his family announced his condition progressed to frontotemporal dementia. Symptoms can include drastic personality changes, emotionally distant behavior, and the loss of ability to use language properly. Actor Bruce Willis’ wife, Emma Heming Willis, appeared on NBC’s “The Today Show” to talk about the actor’s recent diagnosis with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). She said the disease, one of the many different types of dementia, is hard both on the person diagnosed, as well as the family.
: Moonlighting, Die Hard and rise to fame
There are some incredibly successful individuals who you may never have suspected had a substance abuse problem. Recently, for example, Bruce Willis opened up to GQ magazine about his past issue with alcohol consumption. Willis reportedly developed a drinking problem when he was hired as a spokesperson for Seagrams wine coolers in the early 80’s. “You don’t get an Oscar for comedy, and you don’t get it for shooting people,” he said. “You get it for novelty, for being fascinating to watch in some character role. But the ‘Die Hard’ stuff and ‘Dirty Harry’ are all fraught with the same thing that every story is fraught with.” After years of sobriety, Bruce Willis is allowing himself alcohol again, but in limited quantities, the “Die Hard” star told GQ magazine in a new cover story.
Early Career
Willis won an Emmy for “Moonlighting” in his TV days, but he’s not upset if he never adds an Oscar to that shelf. Willis also discussed the 1994 classic “Pulp Fiction,” and the disturbing scene he shared with Ving Rhames. “Those were a couple of dark days of shooting,” Willis said of acting with a ball gag in his mouth.
According to an anonymous crew member, Willis commanded the set, leading to disagreements between him and the director, Michael Lehmann. It may be surprising that a name like “Bruce Willis” hasn’t harvested an Oscar, let alone a Golden Globe for one of his movies, but that’s certainly the case for the actor. The most prominent awards he’s received are two Primetime Emmys for his early alcohol withdrawal delirium career role in the show “Moonlighting” and for his guest star role on “Friends,” according to his IMDb awards page. He’s received a Golden Globe — and a nomination — but they were also mostly for “Moonlighting.” According to the Los Angeles Times, the aphasia diagnosis and subsequent retirement arrived after he had demonstrated diminished abilities in the previous few years.
A neighbor called the police about the noise coming from Willis’s home, and when they went to investigate, they found a party in full swing, complete with loud music and alcohol. Rumor has it that Willis had a job as a private investigator before he began acting professionally. “Moonlighting” was a huge hit with TV critics and audiences, and was nominated for numerous awards during its four-season run, including Golden Globes, People’s Choice Awards, and the Primetime Emmys — winning six of the latter. His breakout performance in the 1980s TV dramedy “Moonlighting” put him on the map, but it was his portrayal of John McClane in the “Die Hard” film franchise that launched him into superstardom.
His father, David Willis, was a military man who was stationed in the city Idar-Oberstein at the time of Bruce’s birth in 1955. Two years later, David Willis was discharged and relocated with his family to Carney’s Point, New Jersey (via Biography.com). “For families, interacting with the loved one, engaging them in activities and keeping them stimulated is the best they can do for them,” he said.
There was some exposure on the television screen, too, with occasional appearances on episodes of Hart to Hart and Miami Vice. He played the lead role of author Paul Sheldon in the stage adaptation of Stephen King’s “Misery.” The play was meant to be a thriller, as Sheldon is held captive by a rabid fan and must rewrite his book in order to save his own life, according to Playbill. But to critics, Willis lacked the intensity and energy required for a character writing against time.
The studio utilized motion capture and photo-mapping to copy Willis’s likeness for the main character, and he also provided the voice. Though the studio did hit a few snags along the way, “Apocalypse” was fairly well-received by game critics — even if almost no one remembers it now. Willis told Tarantino that he’d “be happy to do anything” in his upcoming film, and Tarantino took his words to heart. Originally, the part of Butch had been offered to actor Matt Dillon, but it seemed that Dillon was not quite sold on the idea. While Willis was hoping to be cast as Vincent Vega, Tarantino offered him Butch’s role instead, which he gladly accepted. Though Willis and Moore divorced in 2000, the two continued to have a strong friendship.
Calling an Oscar nomination “whimsical,” he said, “You don’t get an Oscar for comedy, and you don’t get it for shooting people.” According to the Irish Examiner, Willis adhd medication mistakes and dosage myths used a medium a year later to contact his brother in the afterlife. Willis said that the medium began speaking in his brother’s voice and cursing in his manner.
- Rumer and her sisters cut off communication with their mother for three years after the incident.
- See today’s front and back pages, download the newspaper, order back issues and use the historic Daily Express newspaper archive.
- After the GQ interview was published last year, there were reports across the Internet that screamed, “Bruce Willis reveals he’s not sober anymore!
- A 1987 article from the United Press International described a wild party gone wrong at Willis’s residence in Los Angeles.
It was the start of a romance that carried them for 20 years together and yielded three children, but it all ended in 2000, according to US Magazine. The lawsuit claimed that he suffered “extreme mental, physical, and emotional pain,” required medical attention on set, and would require further treatment in the future. Another kid-friendly Willis cameo came via 2003’s “Rugrats Go Wild,” which accompanied 12 years’ worth of episodes on Nickelodeon and two other feature films depicting how babies and toddlers view the world around them. Main character Tommy Pickles had long been accompanied by a goofy, beloved dog Spike, who didn’t talk. That changed for “Rugrats Go Wild”; suddenly Spike could speak, or at least be understood, because crossover character Eliza Thornberry communicates with animals.
After all, you don’t earn a reputation as a rugged action movie star without putting in the work. Willis has previously declared that he did many of his own stunts for the action-packed franchise, but not without consequence. However, there was a time in the movie star’s life when he struggled with speaking post-acute withdrawal syndrome symptoms, treatment altogether. In a 2002 interview with Reader’s Digest, Willis spoke candidly about a debilitating stutter that he suffered as a child. He added that although research about frontotemporal dementia is ongoing, much more needs to be done to better understand the disease and to raise public awareness.
About a year after the public disclosure of these medical issues, the actor’s family shared an update via a statement issued by the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration. Willis had been further diagnosed with frontotemporal degeneration, a difficult-to-pinpoint, often overlooked form of early-onset dementia that progressively worsens. While Bruce Willis had enjoyed a successful film career, he didn’t lose his love for the theater. In 2015, he found his way onto the Broadway stage, playing Paul Sheldon in a stage adaptation of Stephen King’s thriller, “Misery.” Playing opposite Willis as the obsessed fan, Annie Wilkes, was Laurie Metcalf of “Roseanne” fame.
Also known as “Dry January,” this public health campaign was formed in 2013 by the U.K. Nonprofit Alcohol for Change to encourage people to abstain from alcohol for a month, according to OprahDaily. It’s widely considered that “Hudson Hawk” was the start of Bruce Willis’ career nosedive. Most of his latest films have been direct-to-video productions in which Willis appears in — what are essentially — glorified cameos so that his name can be used in press releases and on the film poster, according to Yahoo News.
Also in 2000, Willis played Jimmy “The Tulip” Tudeski in The Whole Nine Yards alongside Matthew Perry. Willis was originally cast as Terry Benedict in Ocean’s Eleven (2001) but dropped out to work on recording an album.[34] In the sequel, Ocean’s Twelve (2004), he makes a cameo appearance as himself. In 2007, he appeared in the Planet Terror half of the double feature Grindhouse as the villain, a mutant soldier. This marked Willis’s second collaboration with the director Robert Rodriguez, following Sin City. As Willis’ story shows, it is possible to regain control of your life after alcoholism. Unfortunately, though, not every alcoholic is as honest with others – or themselves – about the depth of their abuse.
Willis wasn’t the first actor Tarantino had in mind, however, and it was thanks to fellow cast member Harvey Keitel that he was even hired at all. In an interview with GQ in 2013, Willis spoke candidly about his drinking habit. ‘Die Hard’ and ‘Pulp Fiction’ actor Bruce Willis ends his acting career after being diagnosed with aphasia, his family announces.
Even when a person is no longer drinking, patterns of thought that might have led to the drinking in the first place are often still in full swing. The negative connotation to this phrase comes from the fact that family, friends, and co-workers must still have to bear the arrogance and destructive behavior of a recovering alcoholic. Perhaps for this reason, the headlines that Willis was drinking again spread across the Internet.
If you, or someone you know, are in immediate danger with thoughts of harming yourself or are experiencing a medical emergency, PLEASE CALL NOW! (If you are not in the U.S., please call your local emergency number.) There is help for you! Your life is extremely valuable and there are people who care about you, so reach out for help and someone will respond.
