Bruce Willis fans just got a health update on the beloved actor, via his ex-wife. Recently, Demi Moore made an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, and during their chat the conversation eventually turned to Willis, who was previously diagnosed with aphasia and later frontotemporal dementia (known as FTD).
“When we did Charlie’s Angels, Bruce came and played on it, and he opens up the film, and we got to work with him,” Barrymore recalled, per PEOPLE, to which Moore replied, “I totally forgot about that.” Barrymore then added, “I mean, I used to know him when he was a bartender at … Cafe Central,” which Moore also remembered.
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“I’ve known him my whole life, too, Barrymore continued, then asking, “how is he right now?” Moore, who was married to Willis for more than a decade, explained that “given the givens, he is in a stable place.” The Substance actress, who shares three daughters with Willis, went on to share, “What I say to my kids is you meet them where they’re at. You don’t hold on to who they were or what you want them to be, but who they are in this moment,” the actress said.
“And from that, there is such beauty and joy and loving and sweetness,” Moore went on to say. “When I’m in L.A., I go over every week, and I really treasure the time that we all share.”
Bruce was diagnosed with aphasia, but in 2023 it was revealed that he is living with frontotemporal dementia, or FTD. The Alzheimer’s Association offers a detailed explanation of FTD, which “refers to a group of disorders caused by progressive nerve cell loss in the brain’s frontal lobes (the areas behind your forehead) or its temporal lobes (the regions behind your ears).
The association also says nerve cell damage caused by FTD can lead to “loss of function in these brain regions, which variably cause deterioration in behavior, personality and/or difficulty with producing or comprehending language.” There is currently no known cure.