Bruce Willis is "not totally verbal" anymore amid dementia, says friend
Legendary action star Bruce Willis has been out of the limelight for the past year after being diagnosed with dementia, and a collaborator and friend recently provided updates on his condition.
TV producer Glenn Gordon Caron revealed in an interview with the New York Post that he’s still good friends with Willis.
The pair worked together on the TV series Moonlighting in the late ’80s, with Caron as the creator and Willis as one of the stars.
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Caron told the Post that he tries to keep up a relationship with Willis and his family.
“I have tried very hard to stay in his life. He’s an extraordinary person. The thing that makes [his disease] so mind-blowing is [that] if you’ve ever spent time with Bruce Willis, there is no one who had any more joie de vivre than he,” said Caron. “He loved life and… just adored waking up every morning and trying to live life to its fullest.”
Last year, the Willis family announced that he was diagnosed with aphasia, a language disorder. In February, the family had a more specific diagnosis as his condition progressed.
According to the family, Willis has FTD, or frontotemporal dementia, and one of the symptoms the 68-year-old is experiencing is challenges with communication.
Caron told the Post that he senses that Willis knows who he is for the first one to three minutes of their conversation.
“He’s not totally verbal; he used to be a voracious reader—he didn’t want anyone to know that—and he’s not reading now,” he said. “All those language skills are no longer available to him, and yet he’s still Bruce.”
Moonlighting is now streaming on Hulu, giving viewers a glimpse at Willis’ rise to stardom in the series.
Caron says he talked about the release of the show on the streaming site with Willis.
“When I got to spend time with him, we talked about it and I know he’s excited,” he said.
“Bruce’s disease is a progressive disease, so I was able to communicate with him, before the disease rendered him as incommunicative as he is now, about hoping to get the show back in front of people.”