Bruce Willis Steps Away From Acting Career After Being Diagnosed With Brain Condition

Bruce Willis' family is sharing a sad health update on the 67-year-old actor. On Wednesday, Bruce's wife, Emma, ex-wife, Demi Moore, and daughters, Rumer, Scout, Tallulah, Mabel and Evelyn, shared a joint statement on his recent diagnosis with aphasia. 

"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," the statement reads. "As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him." 

The family adds, "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."

The women concluded the post writing, "As Bruce always says, 'Live it up' and together we plan to do just that."

A source tells ET that the actor has been "struggling for quite some time."

"Bruce has been struggling for quite some time. He has tried to keep his health struggles private, but last year, his health started declining more. He made a plan to make a bunch of movies and do as much as he could career wise, so that he could retire and take care of his family."

"His family is extremely close and all of them have been coming together even more to take care of Bruce, love him, and each other," the source added. "They are trying their best to go about their normal lives and be happy, but seeing Bruce like this has been extremely difficult for them."

Aphasia is defined by the Mayo Clinic as "a condition that robs you of the ability to communicate. It can affect your ability to speak, write and understand language, both verbal and written."

The main treatment is speech and language therapy. 

In his lengthy acting career, Willis has won two Emmys and has 145 credits to his name. 

His last released project was this year's A Day to Die, and he has several completed and announced projects listed on his IMDb page. 

A separate source tells ET that Willis struggled filming his last movie, American Siege. The actor filmed the movie in 2021. "He was unable to remember his lines," the source shared. Willis was supposed to do another film soon, but the source says that he's no longer working on the project.

While another source shared, that when Willis filmed the movie, Glass, in late 2017/early 2018, production noticed there were also issues. "He could not remember any of his lines and there were concerns he was having a medical issue," the source explained. The actor did no press for Glass.

Willis is best known for his role as John McClane in the Die Hard films and has many other hit movies to his name including Pulp Fiction, The Sixth Sense, Sin City, Armageddon, The Fifth Element and more. 

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