Bruce Willis’ ‘Sixth Sense’ director M. Night Shyamalan gives update on actor’s dementia diagnosis
Bruce Willis’ “Sixth Sense” director M. Night Shyamalan has given an update on the actor’s dementia diagnosis.
“He has a very loving family,” Shyamalan, 53, said at a recent press event promoting his new movie “Trap,” per People. “They’re doing the best they can.”
In March 2022, Willis, 69, retired from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia. In February 2023, his loved ones further revealed that his condition had worsened and that he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.
The “Die Hard” actor and Shyamalan have known each other for years, famously working together on 1999’s “The Sixth Sense.”
The film celebrated its 25th anniversary in August.
Despite its just $40 million budget, it made $293.4 million domestic and $672.8 million worldwide.
“At this point, there’s so many generations of people that have watched [my] different movies,” the director went on.
“[Some] only know me from [the 2015 movie] ‘The Visit’ from then on, so they don’t even know about ‘The Sixth Sense.’ So when I think about that, it’s wild.”
“Each movie, I feel this way — that I don’t know if it’ll ever get made,” he continued. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get to make another one … If this is the last one, I want it to just represent me.”
They went on to work together in 2000’s “Unbreakable.” In 2016, Willis did a post-credits cameo in “Split,” too.
Willis’ family recently supported another one of his films — “Pulp Fiction.” His wife, Emma Heming Willis, and daughter Tallulah Willis (whom he shares with ex-wife Demi Moore) stepped out for the 2024 TCM Classic Film Festival opening on April 18.
Stars John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman were also in attendance.
Heming Willis, 45, has opened up about her husband’s health on multiple occasions on social media. In January, she also called him the man of her dreams.
“How do I really feel about today? Well, how do I look?” Heming Willis noted celebrating the couple’s 16th anniversary the month prior. “I just got off the phone with a really dear girlfriend of mine who I was able to have a good cry with. It is really important to be able to have someone that you can trust with your feelings. Instead of just bottling them up and putting your best foot forward and sort of just soldiering through stuff, which I have a tendency to do.”
“Holidays are hard. Anniversaries are hard,” she continued. “But for me this year it has really been about community, building a community and connection. And I just want to say that’s been my lifeline and I just want to thank you for that.”
The pair met in 2007 and tied the knot two years later. They are parents of Mabel, 11, and Evelyn, 9.
In addition to Tallulah, 30, Willis is also dad of daughters Rumer, 35, and Scout, 32, with Moore, 61.
In January, Moore briefly opened up about her ex with Andy Cohen.
“What message do you have for people out there who have family members who have dementia? Who are maybe caring for them or in their lives?” Cohen, 55, asked Moore on his SiriusXM show “Radio Andy.”
“I think the most important thing I could share is just to meet them where they’re at,” she replied.
“When you let go of who they’ve been or who you think they [should be], or who even you would like them to be, you can then really stay in the present and take in the joy and the love that is present and there for all that they are, not all that they’re not,” Moore said.