Bruce Willis’s family praised by Angela Rippon for raising dementia awareness after diagnosis

Former BBC newsreader Angela Rippon has praised Bruce Willis’s family for opening up about the actor’s dementia diagnosis.

Willis, 68, who starred in hit films including the Die Hard series and Pulp Fiction, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in March 2022.

Alzheimer’s Society’s chief executive Kate Lee said Alzheimers.org.uk saw 12,000% more visitors in the days after his diagnosis was announced.

Rippon, 78, became involved with the Alzheimer’s Society when her late mother Edna was diagnosed with the condition in 2004.

“We’ve got an actor who won an Oscar for portraying people with dementia in films, we’ve had radio and television soap operas, books have been written about people with dementia,” she said.

“Dementia over the last 20 years has been given such a huge profile compared to the 50 years beforehand, that more people are aware of it; are prepared to talk about it.”

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Rippon feels the conversation needs to continue about the condition so that more people know what it is, how it can manifest and how to help others if they develop it.

She said: “Bruce Willis’ family coming straight out and saying ‘Bruce has got dementia’, talking about it, giving it a high profile… The more you talk about it, hopefully, the more chance there is of getting even more money put into research to find other forms of medical interventions that will help mitigate the worst effects of the illness.”

She added: “And maybe, one day, the golden bullet will be some point in the future that someone will find a cure.”