On 30th March, Emma Heming-Willis and Demi Moore shared an announcement on Instagram, stating that Bruce Willis will be stepping away from his acting career. The actor has been diagnosed with Aphasia, a condition that impedes a person’s ability to speak and write.
They added that he will be retiring from a career that he has always loved. Bruce Willis is known for his work in The Last Boy Scout, Pulp Fiction, 12 Monkeys, Last Man Standing and for playing John McClane in the Die Hard films, among many other significant roles in his career.
Aphasia is a language disorder caused by damage in a specific area of the brain that controls language expression and comprehension. For most people, the cause is a stroke that cuts off blood to a part of the brain. Without oxygen and nutrients, brain cells die, which leads to difficulty in retrieving words. However, no specific cause was shared by Bruce Willis’s family in the Instagram post.
Types of Aphasia
Different types of Aphasia include – Broca aphasia that causes damage to the front portion of the language-dominant side of the brain. Wernicke aphasia that causes damage to the side portion of the language-dominant part of the brain. And Global aphasia, which damages a large portion of the language-dominant side of the brain. Aphasia may also occur with speech disorders, like dysarthria or apraxia of speech, which also result from brain damage.
Living with Aphasia can be frustrating for the person, given that they find it difficult to communicate. While some people even recover completely without treatment, there are others for whom some amount of Aphasia remains. In some cases, speech therapy can help with speech and language functions, but that may not completely remove the issues with communication.
Bruce Willis has given us some memorable characters and while we’d miss him on-screen, we also hope that he finds a path that makes him happier during his journey ahead.
