Bruce Willis: Hollywood star diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, family says
Bruce Willis has been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), his family announced.
The 67-year-old Hollywood star was diagnosed in March 2022 with aphasia, a condition affecting the brain which causes difficulty with language and speech.
His relatives said at the time that he would be “stepping away” from acting.
A statement about the progression of his condition was signed by his current wife, Emma Heming Willis, and his former wife Demi Moore, as well as his children Rumer, Scout, Tallulah, Mabel, and Evelyn.
Willis with his then-wife, Demi Moore, at the premiere of GI Jane, which was directed by Ridley Scott
They said: “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 (known as FTD).
“Unfortunately, challenges with communication are just one symptom of the disease Bruce faces. While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis.”
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‘A difficult diagnosis’ for Bruce Willis says Program Director for the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, Sharon Denny.
The NHS said FTD causes changes to personality, behaviour, language and movement, due to the areas of the brain that it affects, the front and sides of the brain.
As with other forms of dementia, the onset of the disease is slow to begin with but gradually gets worse.
Willis had received “an outpouring of love and compassion” over the past 10 months since his family revealed his aphasia diagnosis. “Your generosity of spirit has been overwhelming, and we are tremendously grateful for it”, the statement said.
The family hopes that by publicising Willis’s condition it will bring public attention to FTD, which there are currently no treatments for.
His relatives said: “As Bruce’s condition advances, we hope that any media attention can be focused on shining a light on this disease that needs far more awareness and research.”
Bruce Willis with Haley Joel Osment, his co-star in The Sixth Sense
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The family hope the understanding and respect shown by the public would “enable us to help Bruce live as full a life as possible”.
“Bruce has always found joy in life – and has helped everyone he knows to do the same. It has meant the world to see that sense of care echoed back to him and to all of us,” they said.
Sharon Denny of the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration told Sky News: “It’s a very difficult diagnosis, there’s no question about it.
“The challenges and the burden of care on families is significant… We know and the community of folks we’re connected to know just how challenging the disease is for families to be able to manage the symptoms and to face the loss of someone gradually over time.
“It really is a devastating diagnosis.”
Willis came to national attention alongside Cybill Shepherd in the 1980s TV hit Moonlighting.
His first big film role was as John McClane in the smash hit Die Hard in 1988. He went on to star in movies including Pulp Fiction, 12 Monkeys and The Sixth Sense.
Over four decades he starred in more than 100 films, which have amassed over $5bn (£4.17bn) at the box office worldwide.
US
Trump criticises Biden’s death row decisions – saying he backs capital punishment for ‘rapists, murderers, and monsters’
Donald Trump says that when he takes power next month he will direct the US Justice Department to “vigorously pursue” the death penalty.
The US president-elect, 78, said he would do so to protect Americans from what he called “violent rapists, murderers and monsters”.
Mr Trump was responding to President Joe Biden’s decision to commute the sentences of almost all federal inmates on death row – whom Mr Trump called “37 of the worst killers in our country”.
“When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense,” Mr Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social.
“Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can’t believe this is happening!”
He continued: “As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters.
“We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!”
President Biden, 82, announced on Monday that he would reduce the sentences of 37 of the 40 federal death row prisoners to life in prison without the possibility of parole, saying he was “guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender”.
The three others the president did not spare are Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018; Dylann Roof, who gunned down nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who carried out a 2013 bombing at the Boston Marathon that killed three people and injured almost 300 others.
(L-R) Robert Bowers, Dylann Roof and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
‘I condemn these murderers’
Despite sparing the lives of 37, Mr Biden added: “Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss.”
During Mr Trump’s first term in office between 2017 and 2021, the US Justice Department put 13 federal inmates to death.
He has since said he would like to expand capital punishment to include child rapists, migrants who kill US citizens and law enforcement officers, and those convicted of drug and human trafficking.
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Denmark to boost Greenland’s defence
Pic: Reuters
Mr Biden, who ran for president opposing the death penalty, put federal executions on hold when he took office in January 2021.
His latest decisions come after a coalition of criminal justice advocacy groups, former prosecutors and business leaders wrote letters to the White House asking for Mr Biden to commute the sentences ahead of Mr Trump’s inauguration on 20 January.
Pope Francis also appealed to Mr Biden, who is Catholic, to reduce the sentences to imprisonment.
Unlike executive orders, clemency decisions cannot be reversed by a president’s successor, although the death penalty can be sought more aggressively in future cases.
Denmark has announced plans to boost its defence spending for Greenland with a “stronger presence in the Arctic” – a few hours after Donald Trump repeated his call for the US to buy the vast island.
Danish defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the package would amount to a “double-digit billion amount” in krone, or at least $1.5bn (£1.2bn).
He told the Jyllands-Posten newspaper the money would be used to buy two inspection ships, two long-range drones and two sled dog teams as well as more personnel for Denmark’s Arctic Command in the capital Nuuk.
Denmark will also upgrade the Kangerlussuaq Airport so that it can handle F-35 fighter jets.
Donald Trump has restated his desire for the US to control Greenland. Pic: Reuters
Greenland, which sits between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, is 80% covered by an ice sheet and is home to a large US military base.
The world’s biggest island, whose capital is closer to New York than the Danish capital Copenhagen, has mineral, oil and natural gas wealth.
But development has been slow, leaving its economy reliant on fishing and annual subsidies from Denmark.
“For many years, we have not invested sufficiently in the Arctic, now we are planning a stronger presence,” Mr Poulsen said.
He called the timing of the announcement an “irony of fate”, coming just hours after Mr Trump’s latest comments on purchasing the territory.
With the Pituffik air base, Greenland is strategically important for the US military and its ballistic missile early-warning system.
Greenland defiant
The president-elect sparked anger on the territory when he wrote that American ownership and control of the island was an “absolute necessity” for “purposes of national security and freedom throughout the world”.
Its prime minister Mute Egede hit back, saying: “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.”
And Danish defence minister Mr Poulsen said: “My response to Trump is the same as the prime minister’s. Greenland does not want to exchange the Commonwealth for other relations. But that is up to Greenland itself.”
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Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede. File pic: Reuters
Mr Trump also proposed buying Greenland during his first term in office – an idea the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called “absurd”.
Greenland has been part of Denmark for more than 600 years and gained autonomy from the country in 1979.
Under Greenland’s self-government act, enacted by Denmark and Greenland in 2009, Greenlanders are recognised as a people or nation entitled to the right of self-determination, with the option of independence.
On Monday, in an announcement naming Ken Howery as his ambassador to Denmark, Mr Trump wrote: “For purposes of national security and freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”
He has also threatened to take back control of the Panama Canal, accusing Panama of charging excessive rates to use the waterway, which allows ships to cross between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
American Airlines was forced to ground all flights in the US on Christmas Eve due to an unspecified technical issue.
The airline did not immediately say why it was stopping all flights, but social media was quickly abuzz with travellers worrying about getting to their loved ones for the holiday.
A groundstop notice was lifted not long after it was issued, but the possibility of disruption remains with so many flights needing to make up time.
Earlier on Tuesday, the airline said on social media: “An estimated timeframe has not been provided, but they’re trying to fix it in the shortest possible time.”
The Federal Aviation Agency said American Airlines was reporting “a technical issue and has requested a nationwide ground stop”.
In an update on Tuesday afternoon it said: “American Airlines reported a technical issue this morning and requested a nationwide ground stop. The ground stop has now been lifted.”
The groundstop notice that was later rescinded
Passengers on social media reported having their flights stuck on the runway at various airports and being sent back to the gate.
American Airlines operates thousands of flights per day to more than 350 destinations in more than 60 countries.
It comes months after a faulty CrowdStrike software update led to worldwide flight cancellations.
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