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

Bruce Willis had shown signs of deterioration for several years before he was diagnosed with aphasia, but another condition he had since childhood left his wife Emma Heming Willis unconcerned.

It is characterized by a gradual progressive deterioration in behavior, language and occupational functioning.

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

“For Bruce, it all started with language,” Heming Willis told US magazine Town and Country in an interview published this week. But these early changes in the Emmy winner’s speech didn’t initially alarm her, she said, because he struggled with “severe stuttering” already in adolescence.