Bruce Willis “has declined significantly mentally” and is “living in his own world” three years after his frontotemporal dementia (FTD) diagnosis, according to a new report.
“Sometimes he looks like a baby who looks at an object with curiosity and just observes it,” a source told the Daily Mail Sunday. “But if you look at him, he looks like a healthy middle-aged man.”
The insider noted over the weekend that the 71-year-old is unaware of his own mental decline.
“He knows his life is different, but he doesn’t think it’s that different,” the individual said. “He doesn’t talk about it or even complain much. He senses something is wrong, but he doesn’t fully understand it.”
Although Willis’ personality has changed a lot since he was younger and “had a lot of energy and talked a lot,” the source said the actor was becoming more “comfortable.”
Willis’ rep has not yet responded to Page Six’s request for comment.
In September, the “Die Hard” star’s wife, Emma Heming, gave a heartbreaking update on the “constant state of grief” she was going through while caring for her husband.
“It’s natural: we all want our loved ones to be healthy, full of life and (to be) the person they’ve always been,” she explained to Hello! magazine at the time. “But FTD is a devastating disease that steals things from you very slowly.”
Heming highlighted the “tremendous lack of information” about dementia, saying the fact that people often ask whether Bruce still remembers her is “really telling.”
“My answer is always a resounding yes. Bruce does not have Alzheimer’s disease. He has frontotemporal dementia, which affects a completely different part of the brain,” she said.
Willis, 71, was diagnosed with the progressive illness in February 2023, about a year after his family revealed he was quitting following a diagnosis of aphasia.
“While it is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis,” the family said in a statement, noting that FTD is a “cruel disease” that can “hit anyone.”
The “Sixth Sense” actor was surrounded by his five children throughout his health battle.
He shares daughters Mabel, 14, and Evelyn, 12, with Heming, whom he married in 2009.
Willis is also dad to daughters Rumer, 38, Scout, 35, and Tallulah, 32, whom he shares with ex-wife Demi Moore.
“Each of them built their own unique bond with him,” Heming exclaimed in September. “It’s amazing because all five of them are completely different, but they share the same foundation.”
Fans got a rare glimpse of Willis in August at Tallulah’s Idaho wedding to Justin Acee, with Vogue publishing a sweet snap of the father-daughter pair celebrating.
Tallulah opened up about her forever “connection” with her father in an E! Press interview.
“Our visits have so much love and I feel like that surpasses everything for me,” she told the outlet. “I know he knows how much I love him, I know how much he loves me – I know how much he loves us all.”
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