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Actor Bruce Willis’ stutter hid his dementia for years, his wife says

Umito November 1, 2024

Bruce Willis was showing signs of decline years before his aphasia diagnosis – but another condition he suffered from since childhood kept his wife Emma Heming Willis’ worries at bay.

It is marked by a gradual and progressive decline in behavior, language and professional functioning.

Willis at the UK premiere of Glass, in London in 2019. The actor retired in 2022 after being diagnosed with dementia. Photo: EPA/EFE

“For Bruce, it all started with language,” Heming Willis told American Town and Country magazine in an interview published this week. But those early changes in the Emmy winner’s speech didn’t alarm her at first, she said, while he struggled with “severe stuttering” until his adolescence.