Bruce Willis’s daughter shares update on his ‘aggressive’ dementia
Bruce Willis’s daughter Tallulah has spoken about her father’s “really aggressive” dementia and why it is so important for her family to be open about it.
The Hollywood actor, 68, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) a year after his family revealed he was suffering from aphasia, a condition affecting speech and language.
“What’s going on with my dad – he has a really aggressive cognitive disease, a form of dementia that’s very rare,” Tallulah Willis told The Drew Barrymore Show on Wednesday.
Willis added they were candid about the condition because “it’s who we are as a family”.
“But also, it’s really important for us to spread awareness about FTD because there’s not enough information out there,” she said.
“If we can take something that we’re struggling with as a family… and help other people to turn it around, to make something beautiful about it, that’s really special for us.”
She said she had “no idea” about FTD before her father’s diagnosis.
The 29-year-old revealed one of the ways she spends time with her father is while listening to music together.
“Playing music and sitting in that and this energy of love, it’s really special,” she said.
“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 added.
Asked about her father’s health, Willis said: “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.”
Read more:
What is frontotemporal dementia?
‘Hard to know’ if Bruce Willis is aware of his dementia
Earlier this year, she wrote an essay for Vogue about coming to terms with his illness.
“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,'” Willis wrote.
Later, the unresponsiveness “broadened”, she added.
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Family release unseen footage of Bruce Willis
“He still knows who I am and lights up when I enter the room.
“He may always know who I am, give or take the occasional bad day. One difference between FTD and Alzheimer’s dementia is that, at least early in the disease, the former is characterised by language and motor deficits, while the latter features more memory loss.
“I keep flipping between the present and the past when I talk about Bruce: he is, he was, he is, he was. That’s because I have hopes for my father that I’m so reluctant to let go of.”
Charlie Kirk has been posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Donald Trump.
The USA’s highest civilian honour was received by the conservative activist’s widow, Erika, at the White House.
Mr Kirk, 31, was fatally shot on 10 September while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University.
He founded Turning Point USA and toured American university campuses, debating students about current affairs.
Erika Kirk at the White House. Pic: Reuters
Erika Kirk and Donald Trump. Pic: Reuters
Addressing those attending the ceremony in the White House rose garden, the US president said they were there to “honour and remember a fearless warrior for liberty” and a “beloved leader who galvanised the next generation”.
He said Mr Kirk’s name was being entered “forever into the eternal roster of true American heroes”.
Mr Trump described Charlie Kirk as an “American patriot of the deepest conviction, the finest quality and the highest calibre”.
He said his nation had been “robbed” of an “extraordinary champion”.
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Has Charlie Kirk become a MAGA ‘martyr’?
And Mr Trump said Mr Kirk was assassinated in the “prime of his life for boldly speaking the truth, for living his faith, and relentlessly fighting for a better and stronger America”.
The ceremony coincided with what would have been Mr Kirk’s 32nd birthday.
Mr Trump described Erika Kirk, now head of Turning Point USA, as someone who had “endured unspeakable hardship with unbelievable strength”.
Read more:
What do we know about Erika Kirk?
Charlie Kirk’s movement is growing in wake of his assassination
Charlie Kirk. File pic: AP
A 22-year-old man, Tyler Robinson, from the city of Washington in Utah has been charged with Mr Kirk’s murder. Prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty.
At a memorial event held at a stadium in Arizona, Erika Kirk told an enormous crowd she forgave her husband’s killer.
“The answer to hate is not hate,” she said.
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