Bruce Willis losing 'joie de vivre' and 'language skills’ amid dementia battle

Bruce Willis is losing his “joie de vivre” and “language skills”, according to a friend who has given a health update amid the actor’s battle with dementia.

The Die Hard star, 68, officially retired from acting last year after his family issued a statement revealing he had been diagnosed with the brain condition aphasia, which causes the patient’s language abilities to deteriorate.

They gave a further update in March when they shared the devastating news that his illness had “progressed” and he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

Glenn Gordon Caron, who created the 1980s sitcom Moonlighting on which Willis first shot to fame on, has shared his experience of visiting the ailing star.

“My sense is the first one to three minutes he knows who I am,” Caron said in an interview with Page Six. “He’s not totally verbal; he 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 added: “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.”

Willis is currently being cared for by his wife Emma Heming Willis, with whom he shares his two younger daughters Mabel, 11, and Evelyn, nine.

He also has three adult daughters – Rumer, 35, Scout, 32, and Tallulah, 29 – from his previous marriage to actress Demi Moore.