Bruce Willis “stepping away” from acting following aphasia diagnosis
Aphasia affects one’s ability to communicate, primarily their ability to speak and understand speech
Hollywood icon and one of the biggest movie stars of the modern age, Bruce Willis, is “stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him,” daughter Rumer Willis wrote on Instagram, due to declining cognitive abilities. Willis was recently diagnosed with aphasia, a language disorder that causes people to lose the ability to speak and understand speech.
“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,” Rumer wrote on Instagram. “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,” she continued. “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.”
Even with his retirement, he still has numerous projects listed as in pre- and post-production. Most, if not all, are brief roles in VOD action movies produced in eastern Europe on the cheap, but capitalize on Willis’ name over the title.
While he’s stepped away from mainstream Hollywood fare in recent years, Willis remains one of the most beloved movie stars of the last 30 years. He’s also worked with some of the most revered directors in Hollywood, including Quentin Tarantino, Rian Johnson, M. Night Shyamalan, and Wes Anderson.
His eclectic career includes Emmy wins for Moonlighting and Friends, numerous music albums, appearances on Broadway, a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, and, perhaps what he’s most well-known for, five Die Hard movies as John McClane.