Tallulah Willis, daughter of actor Bruce Willis, gave an update on her father following his frontotemporal dementia diagnosis.
On Nov. 8, Tallulah Willis, 29, appeared on “The Drew Barrymore Show” and spoke candidly about her father’s condition.
“What’s going on with my dad — he has a really aggressive cognitive disease, a form of dementia that’s very rare,” she said.
She also revealed why her family decided to be “open” about the “Die Hard” actor’s diagnosis.
“Well, I think it’s two-fold. I think on one hand it’s who we are as a family,” Tallulah Willis said. “But also, it’s really important for us to spread awareness about FTD because there’s not enough information out there.”
Additionally, Tallulah Willis admitted she “had no idea” about frontotemporal dementia until her father’s diagnosis.
“The bigger version of what I’m trying to do, if we can take something that we’re struggling with as a family and individually and help other people to turn it around, to make something beautiful about it, that’s really special for us,” she continued.
Furthermore, she shared how she’s been able to cope with her father’s new normal.
“A really beautiful way for me to heal through this is becoming like an archaeologist to my dad’s stuff, his world, his little trinkets and doodads,” she said.
Speaking on how her father is currently doing, she shared, “He is the same, which, I think, in this regard, I’ve learned is the best thing you can ask for. I see love when I’m with him, and it’s my dad and he loves me.”
On Feb. 16, 2022, Emma Heming Willis announced on behalf of the Willis Family that Bruce Willis, 68, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.
On March 30, 2022, the Willis family announced in a joint statement he had been diagnosed with aphasia, which is a language disorder that is caused by brain damage and affects a person’s ability to speak and communicate, according to Mayo Clinic. They also announced he would be retiring from acting as a result.
In a touching essay for Vogue in May, Tallulah Willis spoke openly about her father’s health decline and what signs she noticed in the early stages of his dementia.
“My family announced in early 2022 that Bruce Willis was suffering from aphasia, a brain-mediated inability to speak or to understand speech, and we learned earlier this year that that symptom was a feature of frontotemporal dementia, a progressive neurological disorder that chips away at his cognition and behavior day by day,” she said
She continued, “But I’ve known that something was wrong for a long time. It started out with a kind of vague unresponsiveness, which the family chalked up to Hollywood hearing loss: ‘Speak up! ‘Die Hard’ messed with Dad’s ears.'”