“Moonlighting” creator Glenn Gordon Caron has shared an update on Bruce Willis’ health this week, telling the New York Post that the actor is “not totally verbal” amid his battle with frontotemporal dementia.
Caron, a friend of the 68-year-old actor, explained that Willis still knows who he is during his visits but noted some changes to him.
“My sense is the first one to three minutes he knows who I am,” he said.
“[Willis] used to be a voracious reader — he didn’t want anyone to know that — and he’s not reading now. All those language skills are no longer available to him, and yet he’s still Bruce.”
He continued: “When you’re with him, you know that he’s Bruce, and you’re grateful that he’s there, but the joie de vivre is gone.”
Caron said he’s talked with him and the actor’s wife, Emma Heming Willis, while maintaining a “casual relationship” with his three older children.
“I have tried very hard to stay in his life. He’s an extraordinary person,” added Caron.
“The thing that makes [his disease] so mind-blowing is [that] if you’ve ever spent time with Bruce Willis, there is no one who had any more joie de vivre than he. He loved life and ... just adored waking up every morning and trying to live life to its fullest.”
Willis’ family announced that the actor was diagnosed with aphasia last year prior to sharing his dementia diagnosis in February.
In a recent appearance on the “Today” show, his wife noted the challenges that come with dementia.
“It’s hard on the person diagnosed. It’s also hard on the family. And that is no different for Bruce, or myself, or our girls. And when they say that this is a family disease, it really is,” said Emma Heming Willis, who shared that it’s “hard to know” if Willis is aware of his condition.
Caron, whose popular ’80s series starring Willis hit Hulu this week, informed the actor about the show’s availability on streaming.
“I know he’s really happy that the show is going to be available for people, even though he can’t tell me that,” Caron told the Post.
“When I got to spend time with him, we talked about it, and I know he’s excited.”