According to recent reports, Bruce Willis, after being diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) following an earlier diagnosis of aphasia, has moved into a nearby, single-story home to receive 24/7 professional care. This decision, though among the hardest his wife, Emma Heming Willis, said she ever made, was motivated by the needs of their young daughters, Mabel (13) and Evelyn (11), ensuring they have a stable home environment better suited to their routine and comfort.The new residence is specifically designed to accommodate Bruce’s evolving needs, offering a quieter and more manageable space for him and his full-time care team. Despite the change in living arrangements, the family remains deeply connected: Emma and their daughters visit frequently, often sharing breakfast and dinner together, and their bond remains strong through these moments of togetherness.Although Bruce is physically mobile and in generally good health, his ability to communicate and recall memories is diminishing. His wife shared that they’ve adopted new ways of connecting, chasing glimpses of his once vibrant personality through his hearty laugh, expressions, or brief, shining moments of recognition.
What happened to Bruce Willis?
So, you probably know Bruce Willis stepped away from acting in 2022. At the time, the family shared he’d been diagnosed with aphasia, a condition that affects language skills. Then in 2023, things got more serious: that diagnosis evolved into frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a degenerative brain disease that affects behavior, communication, and movement.Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a type of dementia that’s pretty different from Alzheimer’s and can catch people off guard, mostly because it usually strikes earlier, think ages 45 to 65, not just the elderly. FTD messes with the parts of the brain that control personality, behavior, and language, so the first things people notice are often a big shift in how someone acts, rather than memory problems. Maybe someone who was always caring suddenly seems selfish or unusually blunt. Or maybe a person who chatted easily now struggles to find words, uses odd grammar, or forgets simple words like “pizza” or “wood.” If any of that sounds familiar, it could be an early sign of FTD rather than just “getting older” or “being weird”.What causes all this? Inside the brain, weird proteins build up in the frontal and temporal lobes. Depending on where these proteins land, FTD can make people act out of character (behavioral FTD) or mess with language (primary progressive aphasia). It’s not one-size-fits-all, there are actually more than a dozen abnormal proteins tied to FTD, so the disease looks different in every person. Compared to Alzheimer’s, where memory loss usually comes first, FTD is more about changes in personality, judgment, or language.One thing to be aware of: FTD moves at its own pace. Some people need full-time care in just a couple of years, while others do okay for a decade or more. Bottom line: if someone in middle age is acting strangely or having trouble speaking, don’t just assume it’s stress or eccentricity, this is worth checking out, and doctors say getting the right diagnosis is key.