Bruce Willis “has declined a lot mentally” and is “living in his own world” three years after his frontotemporal dementia (FTD) diagnosis, according to a new report.
“Sometimes he looks like a baby who is staring at an object with curiosity, just taking it in,” a source told the Daily Mail Sunday. “But if you look at him, he appears like a healthy middle-aged man.”
The insider noted over the weekend that the 71-year-old is unaware of his own mental decline.
“He knows his life is different, but he doesn’t think it is that different,” the individual claimed. “He doesn’t talk about it or even complain much. He senses something is off, but he doesn’t have a full grasp of it.”
Although Willis’ personality has changed a lot from when he was younger and “had a lot of energy and talked a ton,” the source said the actor is becoming more “at ease.”
Willis’ rep has yet to respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
Back in September, the “Die Hard” star’s wife, Emma Heming, gave a heartbreaking update about the “constant state of grief” she was navigating while taking care of her husband.
“It’s natural — we all want our loved ones to be healthy, full of life and [be] the person they always were,” she explained to Hello! magazine at the time. “But FTD is a devastating illness that steals things from you very slowly.”
Heming pointed to the “immense lack of information” about dementia, saying the fact that people often ask whether Bruce still remembers heris “really eye-opening.”
“My answer is always a resounding yes. Bruce doesn’t have Alzheimer’s. He has frontotemporal dementia, which affects a completely different part of the brain,” she clarified.
Willis, 71, was diagnosed with the progressive disease in February 2023, about a year after his family revealed he was stepping away from acting following an aphasia diagnosis.
“While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis,” the family said in a statement, noting that FTD is a “cruel disease” that can “strike anyone.”
The “Sixth Sense” actor has been surrounded by his five children throughout his health battle.
He shares daughters Mabel, 14, and Evelyn, 12, with Heming, whom he married in 2009.
Willis is also dad to daughters Rumer, 38, Scout, 35, and Tallulah, 32, whom he shares with his ex-wife, Demi Moore.
“Each of them has built her own unique bond with him,” Heming gushed in September. “It’s incredible because all five are completely different, but they share the same foundation.”
Fans got a rare glimpse of Willis in August at Tallulah’s Idaho wedding to Justin Acee, with Vogue publishing a sweet snap of the father-daughter pair celebrating.
Tallulah spoke about her everlasting “connection” to her father in a 2024 E! News interview.
“Our visits have so much love and I feel that overarches anything for me,” she told the outlet. “I know he knows how much I love him, I know how much he loves me – I know how much he loves all of us.”
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