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bruce willis 'not totally verbal' amid dementia decline, pal says: 'the joie de vivre is gone'
'the idea that he now sees life through a screen door ... makes very little sense'
oct 12 2023
3 minute read
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moonlighting creator glenn gordon caron, who is still close with bruce willis, is giving a heartbreaking update on the actor’s health as he battles dementia.
“i have tried very hard to stay in his life,” caron said in an interview with the new york post . “i’m not always quite that good but i try and i do talk to him and his wife [emma heming willis] and i have a casual relationship with his three older children.”
but caron said that willis’ love of life is slipping away as his dementia progresses rapidly.
“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,” caron continued. “he loved life and … just adored waking up every morning and trying to live life to its fullest … 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.”
caron said when they’re together, willis recognizes him, but that dissipates quickly.
“my sense is the first one to three minutes he knows who i am,” he said of his visits with his moonlighting star. “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.”
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he added: “so the idea that he now sees life through a screen door, if you will, makes very little sense. he’s really an amazing guy.”
caron was speaking to the post to promote the streaming debut of moonlighting on hulu in the u.s.
the four-time emmy nominee said that willis was happy that a new generation will finally get a chance to see the romantic comedy series that ran from 1985 to 1989 and co-starred cybill shepherd as model maddie haynes.
caron told the post that abc initially didn’t want willis for the part of private detective david addison.
“abc was so convinced that bruce made no sense next to cybill that, when they finally gave it the ok, they said, ‘you can use him, but don’t let the two of them get romantically involved. no one will ever believe it.’ so i said, ‘ok,’ and, of course, in the pilot they get romantically involved.”
willis’ wife emma cheered the streaming news in a social media post, calling it “happy news.
“what happy news this is,” emma wrote in the caption of a photo of her husband and shepherd in character. “you bet our family will be watching tomorrow @hulu david addison and maddie hayes forever.”
bruce willis and cybill shepherd starred on moonlighting for five seasons.
abc
last month, emma appeared on the today show alongside susan dickinson, head of the association for frontotemporal degeneration (aftd), to promote world ftd week.
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“dementia is hard,” emma said on today . “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 this is a family disease, it really is.”
when co-anchor hoda kotb asked if her partner knows what is happening to him, emma said she was unsure.
“it’s hard to know,” she replied. “it’s hard to know.”
exclusive: in honor of world frontotemporal dementia awareness week, bruce willis’ wife emma heming willis speaks to @hodakotb about the condition in her first interview since his diagnosis.
— today (@todayshow) september 25, 2023
“it was the blessing and the curse,” emma said of receiving bruce’s diagnosis. pic.twitter.com/vy5yhvjzif
willis stepped away from acting in march 2022 after his family revealed he was suffering from aphasia — a neurological affliction that leaves a person unable to communicate.
but his condition worsened and this past february his family confirmed that the father of five is suffering from frontotemporal dementia.
during her appearance on today , emma said that learning her husband’s diagnosis was both “the blessing and the curse.” the former model said that the family was grateful to “finally understand what is happening.” but she added “it doesn’t make it any less painful.”
“just being in the acceptance is, and just being in the know of what is happening to bruce, just makes it a little bit easier,” she said.
in an instagram post this past march, emma said that going forward she is making it her mission to “raise awareness” about the disease and advocate for “caregivers.”
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“i’m going to turn my grief and anger and my sadness into something good around something that feels less than,” she said.
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