Bruce Willis's health has deteriorated and he has been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, nearly a year after he was found to have aphasia, his family announced on Thursday.
The family said on Thursday that the actor, 67, had a more specific diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia as his “condition has progressed”.
“While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis,” their statement read.
“FTD is a cruel disease that many of us have never heard of, and [it] can strike anyone.”
Last March, Willis’s family said his aphasia had affected his cognitive abilities and that he would retire from acting. The condition causes the loss of the ability to understand or express speech.
His family said communication challenges were only one symptom of frontotemporal dementia.
“Today there are no treatments for the disease, a reality that we hope can change in the years ahead,” they said.
“As Bruce’s condition advances, we hope that any media attention can be focused on shining a light on this disease that needs far more awareness and research.”
The statement was posted on the website for the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration and signed by Willis’s wife, Emma Heming Willis, his former wife Demi Moore, and his five children, Rumer, Scout, Tallulah, Mabel and Evelyn.
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Bruce Willis in Detective Knight: Independence. Photo: Lionsgate -
Willis in a scene from The Sixth Sense. Photo: Spyglass Entertainment -
Willis in Pulp Fiction. Photo: Miramax -
Brad Pitt, left, and Willis in 12 Monkeys. Photo: Universal Pictures -
Jessica Alba as Nancy Callahan and Willis as John Hartigan in a scene from Sin City. Photo: Miramax Films -
Bruce Willis in Die Hard with a Vengeance -
Bruce Willis in Die Hard, 1988. Photo: Imdb -
Willis as Detective John McClane fights off cyber-terrorists in Die Hard 4.0. AP Photo / Fox
The Associated Press contributed to this report
