'He’s not totally verbal.' Bruce Willis' family and friends have given an update on his health.

More than a year on from Bruce Willis' diagnosis with aphasia and later frontotemporal dementia, a friend has given an update on the 68-year-old actor's health.

Glenn Gordon Caron, the creator of Moonlighting, a series Willis starred in during the '80s, told the New York Post: "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. 

"All those language skills are no longer available to him, and yet he’s still Bruce. When you’re with him you know that he’s Bruce and you’re grateful that he’s there, but the joie de vivre is gone.”

Recently, Willis' wife Emma Heming told the Today Show the impact the disease is having not only on her husband but their whole family. 

"What I’m learning is that dementia is hard. It’s hard on the person diagnosed. It’s also hard on the family. And that is no different for Bruce, or myself, or our girls. When they say that this is a family disease, it really is."

The actor's health battle. 

In March 2022, a joint statement was posted on his family's social media accounts, explaining that the actor has been diagnosed with aphasia, a language disorder that has hampered his "cognitive abilities".

"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," the statement read. 

"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. 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."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Demi Moore (@demimoore)

Months later, Willis' wife shared a video of the actor standing at the top of the Fox Plaza in Los Angeles, which was the setting for the fictional Nakatomi Plaza in the original Die Hard.

"Nakatomi Plaza 34 years later," Heming captioned the video, posted on the film’s 34th anniversary.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Emma Heming Willis (@emmahemingwillis)

She also shared another video of him that month, dancing with his daughter, Mabel.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Emma Heming Willis (@emmahemingwillis)

In February 2023, Willis' family announced his condition has "progressed" and he has been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), which causes progressive damage to either or both the frontal or temporal lobes of the brain. 

"As a family, we wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for the outpouring of love and compassion for Bruce over the past ten months," Heming, Moore and Willis' five daughters wrote in a statement on The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration's website.

"Since we announced Bruce’s diagnosis of aphasia in spring 2022, Bruce’s condition has progressed and we now have a more specific diagnosis: frontotemporal dementia (known as FTD). Unfortunately, challenges with communication are just one symptom of the disease Bruce faces. While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis."

The family went on to say that there are currently no treatments for the "cruel disease", but they hope this "can change in the years ahead".

"Bruce always believed in using his voice in the world to help others, and to raise awareness about important issues both publicly and privately. We know in our hearts that - if he could today - he would want to respond by bringing global attention and a connectedness with those who are also dealing with this debilitating disease and how it impacts so many individuals and their families."

Rumer Willis also shared the news on Instagram alongside a photo of her father.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rumer Glenn Willis (@rumerwillis)

Bruce Willis' career.

With his trademark smirk and rugged charm, Willis carved out a niche for himself as the witty, working-class action hero in an array of films over the past four decades.

The actor started his career in the 1980s, primarily picking up small parts and guest appearances, appearing in Miami Vice and the 1980s Twilight Zone revival. His big break came in 1985 when he landed the lead role of David Addison Jr in the American comedy-drama television series, Moonlighting. 

The series ran for five seasons and Willis won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his role.

During the show's successful run, Willis married actress Demi Moore, and the couple welcomed three daughters - Rumer, Scout and Tallulah.

Bruce Willis and Demi Moore at the 39th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in 1987. Image: Getty. 

In 1988, the actor went from television actor to prolific action star with his role as New York City detective John McClane in the Die Hard franchise. 

The first film was a major box-office success and Willis was paid $5 million for it - an amount almost no A-list actors (let alone a newcomer) received at that time.

Despite the paycheck, there were real dangers involved in starring in the lead role.

Bruce Willis in Die Hard. Image: 20th Century Fox. 

According to the actor, Willis suffered permanent hearing loss from a scene in the first movie.

"Due to an accident on the first Die Hard, I suffer two-thirds partial hearing loss in my left ear and have a tendency to say, 'Whaaa?'" he told The Guardian in 2007.

Demi Moore also said Willis "nearly died" shooting the film.

"I went to see him on set which turned out to be terrifying," she wrote in her memoir Inside Out. 

"He nearly died jumping off a five-story garage, just making it onto the airbag below when he was blown off course by a scripted explosion. He laughed about it. I didn’t."

The film remains his defining screen role.

"No one ever knows when a film is going to take off. No one could predict this," Willis told USA Today while promoting the fifth and final instalment. 

Three years after the hugely successful second film, there were talks that Willis' career wouldn't get any better than that. He was starring in "flops" The Bonfire of the Vanities, The Last Boy Scout and Hudson Hawk.

But in 1994, Willis' career was resurrected when Quentin Tarantino cast him in Pulp Fiction.

Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction. Image: Miramax Films. 

In the following years, Willis appeared in various lead roles in 12 Monkeys, The Fifth Element and M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense.

More action-packed hits followed too, including the third Die Hard instalment and Armageddon, which were the highest-grossing movies of 1995 and 1998, respectively. 

At the same time his career was booming, Willis and Moore announced their separation but maintained a close co-parenting relationship.

"I still love Demi. We’re very close," he told Rolling Stone in 2000, the same year they finalised their divorce. 

"We have three children whom we will continue to raise together, and we’re probably as close now as we ever were. We realise we have a lifelong commitment to our kids. Our friendship continues. The institution has been set aside," he added.

"It’s difficult to live your life and marriage under a magnifying glass, which is what happens to movie star couples."

Bruce Willis and Demi Moore with daughters Scout Willis and Rumer Willis at the 1996 Striptease premiere. Image: Getty. 

Read more: Addiction issues and friends after divorce: Inside Demi Moore and Bruce Willis' unusual family life.

As his acting career continued, Bruce met his second wife, Emma Heming. The pair wed in 2009 and welcomed two daughters - Mabel and Evelyn.

"When we first met, I was surprised at how charming and how funny he was and extremely handsome," she recalled in a 2016 episode of People’s List. "That was my first thought of you."

"I was already in love with her," Willis added.

Bruce Willis and Emma Heming in 2008. Image: Getty. Despite being known for his leading roles in action films, the actor also carved out a substantial niche in animations, voicing characters in Rugrats Go Wild, Over the Hedge, and Hammy's Boomerang Adventure.

He has also made three albums as a singer and starred in multiple stage productions, making his Broadway debut in 2015 with a revival of Misery.

In recent years, Willis has continued acting, playing similar hard-edged characters in films including Red and The Expendables. From 2012, with the exception of a few, almost all of his films have gone direct-to-video.

According to Vulture, that was for a reason.

On the set of those productions, Willis couldn’t remember his lines and seemed confused about where he was, the publication reported.

Instead of accepting something might be wrong, members of his professional team reduced his screen time, cut as many lines as possible and fed them to him through an earpiece or read them out loud to him off-camera, therefore making it hard for audiences to spot his decline.

In 2007, Willis was asked how he wanted to be remembered. 

He responded: "As a guy who didn’t always succeed, but who tried as hard as he could to do the best job that he could."

This article was originally published on August 5, 2022, and has been updated with new information since.

Feature Image: Getty.