Bruce Willis faces 'really difficult times' with aphasia, says pal Sylvester Stallone

Actors Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone arrive at a special screening of 'Red' in 2010. Photo: TNS

Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis used to be attached at the hip, but the Tulsa King actor said he hadn't spoken to his Expendables co-star much since Willis' aphasia diagnosis.

"Bruce is going through some really, really difficult times," Stallone said in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. "So he's been sort of incommunicado."

The Rocky actor added that not speaking to Willis "kills me" and "it's so sad."

Stallone's comments come months after Willis' daughter, Rumer Willis, announced in March that the Die Hard actor was diagnosed with the cognitive disorder and would step away from his acting career.

According to the National Aphasia Association, aphasia is an acquired communication disorder that impairs the ability to process language but does not affect intelligence.

When news of Willis' aphasia diagnosis broke, Stallone showed support on his Instagram page, posting pictures of their friendship over the years.

"We go back a long way, praying for the best for you and your wonderful family," Stallone captioned his March post.

Not long after the shocking announcement, The LA Times reported that Willis exhibited signs of decline in recent years. Filmmakers who worked with him said he had difficulty remembering his lines and could not perform action scenes.

"After the first day of working with Bruce, I could see it firsthand and I realised that there was a bigger issue at stake here and why I had been asked to shorten his lines," said Out Of Death director Mike Burns.

The condition might have halted Willis' career, but the actor is still expressing his talent in other ways.

In August, Willis' wife, Emma Heming Willis, shared a video of the actor playing the blues on his harmonica with musician Derek Richard Thomas.

"Their talent is speaking for itself," Heming Willis captioned her Instagram post.

Elsewhere in his Hollywood Reporter interview, Stallone spoke about his feud with Rocky producer Irwin Winkler and his marriage with Jennifer Flavin. In August, Flavin filed for divorce, but the two have since reconciled.

"Hopefully, you're involved with people who understand the foibles of life and the fragility of it and how rare a real good relationship is," Stallone told THR. "Sometimes I put the work ahead of (my family), and that is a tragic mistake which won't happen again." – Los Angeles Times/Tribune News Service