Los Angeles: Bruce Willis has been diagnosed with dementia, his family said Thursday, less than a year after he retired from acting because of growing cognitive difficulties.
"Since we announced Bruce's diagnosis of aphasia in spring 2022, Bruce's condition has progressed and we now have a more specific diagnosis: frontotemporal dementia," a statement said.
Willis is perhaps best known for playing the tough-as-nails New York cop who pursued bad guys in the five "Die Hard" movies, released from 1988 to 2013.
Over the course of his career, the Hollywood veteran has appeared in films grossing more than $2.5 billion, according to online database IMDB. In 2006, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a Los Angeles landmark honoring legends of film, television and music.
Born on a US military base in Germany in 1955, Willis was raised in New Jersey. After moving to New York to pursue an acting career, he appeared in off-Broadway productions and landed a few minor roles before getting his big break playing the wise-cracking private detective David Addison in "Moonlighting."
