The News About Bruce Willis Sucks

Yesterday I was scrolling through social media and I saw that Bruce Willis announced he was retiring from acting.

I was kind of stunned. I had no idea why. I wanted to know why he was doing this. I am a fan, more on that later, and it really bummed me out. I do truly like a good amount of movies I have seen that Willis has starred in. I love "Die Hard". It is a great movie and he is electric in it. I really love his performance in "Pulp Fiction". He is my favorite part in fact. I enjoy his storyline the most in that movie. He is tremendous in "The Sixth Sense". That was my first drama experience with him. I love "Unbreakable". I actually think that is the best Shyamalan movie personally. I truly do love "The Fifth Element". This is not me being a hipster, I genuinely like that movie. A lot. He showed up in "Between 2 Ferns: The Movie", and it was great. "Glass" isn't a great movie, but it brings back his "Unbreakable" character, which is nice. He voices himself in "The Lego Movie". He's solid in "Sin City". "Looper" is my modern day "Blade Runner", and he is the best person in that movie. I loved him in "Moonrise Kingdom". It was cool to see him in a Wes Anderson movie. "RED" is a great, underrated movie. If it never got an undeserved sequel, that movie would be a cult classic. "Cop Out" is not a good movie, but I loved seeing him and, my favorite actor, Tracy Morgan play off one another. "16 Blocks" is a very cool, solid movie. "The Whole Nine Yards" is dope. He voiced a bad guy in "The Beavis and Butthead Movie". "12 Monkeys" is a trip in all the right ways. I just recently saw "Death Becomes Her" for the first time, and I enjoyed the whole movie, especially Willis' performance. "The Last Boy Scout" was the first hyper violent movie I ever watched, and it opened my eyes to wild movies. And, as a child, of course I watched "Look Who's Talking" all the time. The last decade his movie choices have not been great, but he was still steadily working. Needless to say, I am a fan of his.

I also like how he has lived a relatively scandalous free life outside Hollywood. Sure, his marriage to Demi Moore did not last, but they have been incredible co-parents and continue to be friends. He has helped other actors land big time roles. He is widely known as the best tipper in Hollywood. He seems as down to Earth as someone as famous as he is nowadays. So to hear he was retiring, it was out of left field.

Then I did a little digging to see why. I assumed he just wanted to step away, or that he has done what he has wanted to do. He does not need to act, I just think he truly likes it. But that was not the case. Upon further research I saw that he was diagnosed with aphasia. That is not a disease anyone should hope to get diagnosed with. From what I know, aphasia "typically occurs after a stroke or head wound". It could also occur "from a slow growing brain tumor". It will cause "progressive permanent damage". Willis' family has not disclosed how he got it, and they shouldn't have to. Digging a little deeper, aphasia sounds dreadful. I have read that this disease will cause the patient to "speak in short or incomplete sentences, speak in sentences that do not make sense, substitute words for other words, speak unrecognizable words, not understand what others are speaking about or write sentences that do not make sense". This all sounds so very brutal. It sounds like Alzheimer's, except that maybe your brain doesn't fully go away, you just find it hard to communicate. What a blow. I hope Willis finds some great doctors to help him ease into this horrific situation. He is still relatively young, at 67. I hope he has another 20 plus years, and that this disease doesn't paralyze him.

This news stinks. It bums me out. I hope he gets the help he needs. What a drag. Another great actor, and seemingly decent person, stricken with a disease that just sounds horrendous. Fight the fight Bruce Willis. You seem strong enough to give it real hell.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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