Screen icon Bruce Willis celebrated his 68th birthday on Sunday, and the video of the day shows the actor surrounded by love just a month after being diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.
Actor Demi Moore, who was married to Willis from 1987 to 2000 and remains close, posted the blended family celebration on Twitter and Instagram:
Willis retired from acting last year after being diagnosed with aphasia, which can make it difficult to speak, write, understand and communicate. Colleagues said he has been struggling on his sets for several years.
Last month, her family announced that the condition had progressed to frontotemporal dementia.
“Unfortunately, communication difficulties are only a symptom of the illness Bruce is dealing with. Although this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis,” they wrote at the time.
Willis’ current wife, Emma Heming Willis, posted on social media that she started crying on the morning of his birthday.
“I always get this message or people always say, ‘Oh, you’re so cool, I don’t know how you do it,'” she said. “I have no choice. I would like to be.”
But I’m also raising two kids in this, so sometimes in our lives, we have to put on our little girl panties and get there. And that’s what I do. But I have moments of sadness every day, pain every day and I really feel it today, on his birthday.
Willis won two Emmy Awards for his lead role in “Moonlighting” and a guest role in “Friends.”
He has also been one of the industry’s most prolific action stars for more than three decades in a career that includes starring roles in the “Die Hard” franchise and films such as “The Fifth Element,” “The Sixth Sense,” “Pulp fiction”. and “12 Monkeys”.
