According to the G.I. Jane actress, “Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities.” Because of this, Bruce has decided that he will step away “from the career that has meant so much to him.”
The 67-year-old actor began his career in the 80s after becoming a household name for his starring role in the Emmy Award-winning comedy-drama TV series, Moonlight. However, most will remember Willis for the seminal classic action flick Die Hard, which solidified his name among the biggest actors in Hollywood. For most of the 90s, Bruce signed on to play the lead role in a handful of blockbuster films like Armageddon, which Michael Bay jokingly claimed was the inspiration for the DART NASA mission. In addition to his acting career, Willis is also known for his 13-year marriage with Demi Moore. After their divorce in 2000, Willis remarried again in 2009 and has since been married to Emma Frances Heming Willis. Aphasia is a language disorder that usually results from damage to the part of the brain responsible for language expression and comprehension. The condition impairs a person’s ability to understand and remember written as well as a spoken language, making it difficult for them to communicate well with other people. This disorder is often the result of head trauma, brain tumor, or a stroke. Bruce Willis’s last big-screen appearance before working exclusively with direct-to-video films was in 2019 when he reprised his role in M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass as part of the Unbreakable trilogy and neo-noir crime film, Motherless Brooklyn. Before his retirement, Willis was set to star in a handful of direct-to-video films such as Fortress 3, the final film in a planned trilogy of action movies.