Bruce Willis: Thousands more visitors to Alzheimer’s website after actor’s dementia diagnosis
The family of US actor Bruce Willis revealing that he had been diagnosed with dementia has meant thousands more visitors to the Alzheimer’s Society website, the charity said.
The 67-year-old Pulp Fiction star was recently diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), with the news shared by his family on Instagram on 16 February.
It followed the announcement in March 2022, that he was suffering from aphasia, a condition that affects language and speech.
Alzheimer’s Society’s Chief Executive Kate Lee said Alzheimers.org.uk saw 12,000% more visitors between February 14/15 and February 16/17.
Ms Lee was speaking as the charity, which provides support to carers and Alzheimer’s patients, launched a campaign to highlight the changing nature of intimate relationships following a dementia diagnosis, which has received backing from celebrities.
The campaign features an emotional TV and radio advert, narrated by Oscar-winning British actor Colin Firth.
It comes after Willis’s wife, Emma Heming Willis, asked paparazzi not yell at the actor and said members of the press attempted to speak to her husband when he was getting coffee with friends.
Sharing her experience as a caregiver, she said in an Instagram video: “If you are someone that is looking after someone with dementia, you know how difficult and stressful it can be to get someone out into the world and just to navigate them safely, even just to get a cup of coffee.”
She requested photographers and “video people” to “keep your space” and asked other caregivers or dementia care specialists to share their tips and advice on how to get their loves ones “out in the world safely”.
Heming Willis has previously spoken about how putting her family’s needs above her own had taken a “toll”, after her husband’s aphasia diagnosis.
In an interview with The Bump website last year she said: “I struggle with making the time for self-care every day. I put my family’s needs above my own, which I found does not make me any kind of hero.
“That amount of care for everyone else within my household had taken a toll on my mental health and overall health, and it served no one in my family.”
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‘A difficult diagnosis’ for Bruce Willis
The NHS says 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.
It mostly affects those between the ages of 45 and 65.
As with other forms of dementia, the onset of the disease is slow to begin with but gradually gets worse.
There is currently no cure for FTD, but treatments such as drugs, therapies and memory activities can help control some of the symptoms.
Children are among the fatalities in a mass shooting at a child’s birthday party in California.
Police said four people had died and 10 were wounded in the incident in Stockton, about 60 miles east of San Francisco.
Officers were called on Saturday to a banquet hall just before 6pm local time (2am UK time) and district attorney Ron Freitas said children were among the dead.
He said the attacker was still at large.
First responders walk through a parking lot near the scene of a mass shooting in Stockton, California. Pics: AP
“We can confirm at this time that approximately 14 individuals were struck by gunfire, and four victims have been confirmed deceased,” San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office said on X.
The post said early indications suggest it could be a “targeted incident” but that information remains limited.
Police have so far not disclosed the attacker’s identity and the motive is unclear.
Stockton’s vice mayor Jason Lee confirmed on Facebook that the shooting on Lucile Avenue happened at a child’s birthday party.
Pics: AP
Mayor Christina Fugazzi also said that “families should be together instead of at the hospital, standing next to their loved one, praying that they survive”.
California governor Gavin Newsom’s office added that he had been briefed on the “horrific shooting”.
Venezuela has accused Donald Trump of a “colonial threat” after he said the airspace “above and surrounding” the country should be considered closed “in its entirety”.
Mr Trump made the declaration amid growing tensions with President Maduro – and as the US continues attacking boats it claims are carrying drugs from Venezuela.
He wrote on Truth Social: “To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.”
Air traffic above Venezuela on Saturday afternoon. Pic: FlightRadar24
Venezuela’s foreign affairs office called it a “colonial threat” and “illegal, and unjustified aggression”.
It accused the president of threatening “the sovereignty of the national airspace… and the full sovereignty of the Venezuelan state”.
President Trump’s words were part of a “permanent policy of aggression against our country” that breached international law and the UN Charter, it added.
The Pentagon and the White House have so far not given any additional detail on the president’s statement.
Mr Trump’s post comes after the American aviation regulator last week warned of a “potentially hazardous situation” over Venezuela due to a “worsening security situation”.
Nicolas Maduro is widely considered a dictator by the West. Pic: Reuters
The South American nation revoked operating rights for six major airlines that went on to suspend flights to the country.
Mr Trump warned a few days ago that land operations against suspected Venezuelan drug traffickers would begin “very soon”.
Such a move would be a major escalation in Operation Southern Spear – the US naval deployment in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific that’s so far attacked at least 21 vessels.
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Three killed as US strikes another alleged drug boat
Venezuela has said the attacks, which have killed more than 80 people, amount to murder.
The US has released videos of boats being targeted, but hasn’t provided evidence – such as photos of their cargo – to support the smuggling claims.
Read more:
Trump may have another motive in war on drugs
The US-Venezuela crisis explained
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Venezuela claims Trump creating ‘fables’ to justify ‘war’
The Pentagon has sought to justify the strikes by labelling the drug gangs as “foreign terrorist organisations” – putting them on par with the likes of al Qaeda.
It claims the boats targeted are carrying drugs bound for the US, although Sky’s chief correspondent says the final destination is likely to be Europe and West Africa.
President Maduro has denied Mr Trump’s claims he is involved in the drugs trade himself and said his counterpart wants to oust him so he can install a more sympathetic government.
Venezuelan officials have also claimed Mr Trump’s true motivation is access to the country’s plentiful oil reserves.
Mr Maduro is widely considered a dictator who’s cheated elections and has been president since 2013.
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