Bruce Willis will step back from acting because of an aphasia diagnosis, his family said Wednesday.- The post from his wife, ex-wife, and all of his five daughters said he was facing cognitive issues.
Bruce Willis is "stepping away" from acting after being diagnosed with the language and communication disorder aphasia, his family announced on Instagram on Wednesday.
"We wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities," Rumer Willis, one of his daughters with Demi Moore, said in a post on her account. "As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him."
She added that this was a "really challenging time for our family" and that they were "moving through this as a strong family unit."
The post was signed by the entire family: Emma Heming Willis, his wife, and their two daughters, Mabel and Evelyn, as well as Moore, his ex-wife, and their three daughters, Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah.
The post concluded: "As Bruce always says, 'Live it up' and together we plan to do just that."
Aphasia is common but underrecognized
Aphasia is a condition that causes loss of speech and can make writing and understanding language difficult as well, according to the Mayo Clinic.
It typically occurs after a stroke or other brain injury and affects over 2 million Americans of all ages, according to aphasia.org. It's unclear what led to Willis' aphasia, though he's been rumored to suffer from early-onset memory loss for several years.
It's possible he has a form of the condition called primary progressive aphasia, a neurodegenerative condition that can affect language and cognition, Brooke Lang, a speech pathologist, told Insider.
Typically, though, aphasia doesn't reflect cognitive deficits, despite common perceptions.
People with it may stutter or slur certain words and struggle to find the right terms. Reading or hearing concepts like up and down, left and right, and the time of day can also take time for some people with the condition to interpret. Some people develop a propensity for curse words.
"I think as a society, we tend to judge people by the way they communicate, and so naturally people sort of think that they're dumb or not smart," Lang previously told Insider. "All of that knowledge is still there. They just have trouble accessing the language piece."
There's no cure for aphasia, and treatment is typically speech and language therapy targeted toward each patient's specific challenges.