Bruce Willis' wife confirms his earliest sign of dementia was dismissed by doctors

Die Hard star Bruce Willis was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in 2023 and the Hollywood actor has since retired and is being cared for by his family and kids

Hollywood star Bruce Willis' earliest dementia symptom was dismissed and mistaken for a return of childhood stuttering.

The Hollywood actor was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in 2023 and has been seen only a few times since. Bruce, 69, decided to step away from the spotlight and announced his retirement in 2022 after his aphasia diagnosis. A year later, he was also diagnosed with dementia.

Those closest to the Die Hard actor have said the star is now "non-verbal" and the "the joie de vivre is gone" and his wife Emma said there is a lot of "grief and sadness". The Hollywood actor's wife, Emma Heming Willis, has now revealed that her husband's initial signs of dementia were ignored by health professionals.

Speaking in an interview with Town & Country, Emma explained that Bruce grew up with a bad stutter when he was a young boy. When it returned in recent years, doctors dismissed it.

"He had a severe stutter as a child. He went to college, and there was a theater teacher who said, 'I’ve got something that’s going to help you.' Bruce has always had a stutter, but he has been good at covering it up. So, when he began to experience difficulties with language, it seemed like it was just a part of his stutter," Emma told the publication.

"Never in a million years would I think it would be a form of dementia for someone so young," she added. Jason Krellman, PhD, a Neuropsychologist and Assistant Professor of Neuropsychology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, opened up to Healthline about how stuttering and dementia are closely related.

According to Krellman, changes in personality and behavior, language, or motor functioning are usually seen early in the development of FTD. "People can become withdrawn or impulsive, rigid, and socially inappropriate," he said. "They can have difficulty finding words or understanding language. They can have spasms, tremors, or weakness."

Back in November, Bruce was spotted in a rare public appearance and smiled as he enjoyed a drive around Los Angeles. He rolled down his car window as he placed his forearm on the ledge while in the Studio City district.

He wore a black LA cap paired with a black jacket and white T-shirt and appeared in high spirits during the drive as he kept his hands together on the passenger door with his security teams.

In October 2023, filmmaker Glenn Gordon Caron told Page Six that the star was "not totally verbal" anymore. The film creator, who worked with Bruce in the 80s, spoke to Page Six last year and said: "My sense is the first one to three minutes he knows who I am. 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... you're grateful that he's there, but the joie de vivre is gone." He kept in contact with the star and his ex-wife, along with their three children. Caron told the Post that Bruce "now sees life through a screen door."

A source close to the family claimed that Emma, 45, Demi, 61, Rumer, 35, Scout, 32, and Tallulah, 29, have been spending as much time as possible by his side alongside the younger girls Mabel, 11, and Evelyn, nine. They told US Weekly: "Bruce has good days and bad days, but in the last two months, there are many more bad days than good.

"This experience has brought the whole family even closer together. No one knows how much time Bruce has left, so they're soaking up every moment they get with him. Bruce has around-the-clock care, but at least one family member is always with him."

Bruce's wife Emma Heming Willis previously opened up about caring for Bruce. She said: "There is grief and sadness, there’s all of that. But you start a new chapter, and that chapter is filled with love, it’s filled with connection, it’s filled with joy and happiness. That’s where we are."

If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at Dementia UK.

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