Stunt Double Reveals How Bruce Willis' Behaviour Changed Before Aphasia Diagnosis

The stuntman also mentioned that, when he saw Willis two weeks ago, the actor seemed “a little leaner than normal”, though “not emaciated”.

As Bruce Willis’ family has announced his retirement from acting after he was diagnosed with aphasia - a language disorder that affects a person’s ability to communicate - the actor’s long-time stunt double shed some light on how Bruce began to change months before his diagnosis was revealed.

In an exclusive interview with British tabloid The Sun, Stuart F Wilson, who has worked with Willis for 17 years, said that while they have seen "some changes" in the actor over the past year, it wasn’t immediately clear that something was wrong since, as he put it, "a lot of times with bigger celebrities that are really, really popular like Bruce, they have a million different things going on."

"Sometimes when you were talking to him, he just seemed sidetracked and we would think it meant nothing but you would wonder if there were other things going on," he said.

"Obviously we knew there was other stuff going on at a certain point in time. We realised because he's getting tested for different things, but at the time we didn't know exactly what it was."

Wilson also mentioned that, when he saw Willis two weeks ago, the actor appeared "a little leaner".

"So he's a little leaner. When I saw him a couple weeks ago, he's just a little leaner than normal but not emaciated, and he's always been in pretty good shape," Stuart said.

On Wednesday, Bruce Willis’ family said in a statement released on social media that he is retiring from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia.