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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Wednesday, April 6, 2022
Willis retires after revealing shocking medical diagnosis By Emma Coppolo A&E editor
Over the past week, more and more articles have surfaced discussing Hollywood icon Bruce Willis. Willis is arguably one of the most famous actors of his generation, starring in hits such as “The Sixth Sense,” “Die Hard” and even the cartoon movie “Over the Hedge.” Willis’ career has spanned decades, and his latest announcement shook the film industry and viewers alike. Willis’ family has come forward with his aphasia diagnosis as it has gotten to the point that he cannot continue hiding it. Aphasia is a condition usually resulting from a stroke or head trauma. The result is an inability to understand or formulate language. The afflicted person essentially loses the ability to communicate. For obvious reasons, this is an incredibly difficult condition to have as an actor whose entire job is memorizing and reciting lines.
“As a result of this and with much consideration, Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him,” his family stated. The news of his retirement is undeniably shocking but entirely understandable. Many actors that have worked with Willis over the past few years have since admitted to noticing signs of his decline. Scripts were changed to ensure Willis had fewer and fewer lines. His lines were then fed to him through an earpiece as he could no longer retain them naturally. The biggest issue that has arisen in the midst of this allegedly occurred about two years ago when Willis misfired a prop gun on set. While this may seem insignificant as it was a prop rather than a real firearm, this mistake could have seriously hurt someone. As seen in the incident with Alec Baldwin just a few months ago, prop guns can be incredibly dangerous and even kill people. Following this incident, it is clear that this is a problem regarding both Willis’ safety and
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Bruce Willis with his daughter, Rumer.
the safety of those around him. People within the industry have seen first-hand how changed Willis is from the man he used to be since his diagnosis. While filmmakers did not want to discriminate against Willis, they also did not want to fail him after such a successful career. He is a respected and accom-
plished actor, and no one wanted his current issues to affect his public perception. His condition got to the point where it was difficult at best to ignore, and Willis simply seemed like a different person. Filmmakers did not want to put him in movies and have him look bad, so some of them had
to make the difficult choice of ending their professional relationship. This may or may not have led to the eventual announcement of his retirement, but it seems to be the best course of action for both Willis and his family. Aphasia attacked the part of Willis’ life that made him who he is. It is impossible to imagine the impact that this is having on him and those around him. While actors often share large parts of their personal lives with the public, situations like these make the public wonder what else is being concealed in Hollywood. It appears as though a large portion of the industry knew of Willis’ condition while the public had no knowledge of it. For this reason, the public needs to be more understanding and empathetic towards actors. No one really knows what is going on in their lives, and that should be respected.
Hurst Hot Take: ‘Reminders of Him’ By Vydalia Weatherly Staff writer
Advising Day provided me the opportunity to do something I rarely get to do doing the semester: read for leisure. I read the book “Reminders of Him” by Colleen Hoover. It is one of her newer books and was highly recommended to me by my close friend, Elizabeth Bair. The book follows Kenna Rowan, a woman who spent five years in prison prior to being released. Rowan was charged with murdering her boyfriend Scotty in a car accident after she fled the scene instead of staying to help him. The book revolves around Rowan’s efforts to meet her daughter, Diem. Because Rowan was pregnant with Diem in jail, she was not able to take care of her, and she had to relinquish her parental rights to Scotty’s parents. Rowan arrives in the town where her daughter and in-laws live in an attempt to apologize, meet Diem and hopefully become a part of her life. She knows that it will not be easy without a job or money. However, she meets a man named Ledger who offers her a job at the bar he owns.
Ledger also just so happens to be Scotty’s best friend, a caretaker to Diem and a family friend to Scotty’s parents. Conflicted, Ledger does not know if he should keep helping Rowan because he knows the pain she has caused those around him. However, he can also see how hard she is doing to be a part of Diem’s life. This book is so interesting to me because of Hoover’s descriptions and talent in writing. I found myself sympathizing with both Rowan and Scotty’s parents, and I kept wondering how their situation would resolve (or if it would at all). I read through it very quickly because I wanted to know more. I especially wanted to know what actually happened the night of the car accident. I will not spoil it here, so if you want to know what happened the night of the crash, you will have to read it as well. Hoover really pulls the reader into her book and makes them feel so many emotions. In the book, Rowan continues to write letters to Scotty, providing him with life updates. Those letters were my favorite part of the book. At the beginning, you kind of feel unsympathetic with Rowan when you learn about what she
did. As the book progresses and more and more is uncovered, you see what the truth really is. Compared to other books written by Hoover, “Verity” for example, I found her writing styles to be similar. By this, I mean she is able to grab the reader’s attention from just the first chapter. She develops the characters to the point that you know who they are in such a short time. The details and descriptions are clear to make you feel like you are part of the book. Each book has something special to them that separates them from another, but each one still each contains Hoover’s trademarks. The only thing I did not like about this particular book was some points felt they were included for filler purposes and were not important to the plot at all. I do, however, still recommend giving this book a read. The book can be found on any website and it can also be downloaded on a Kindle if that is your preferred way to read books. Once you start reading this book, you will not want to put it down, so keep it in your back pocket for when you need a new Cover of Colleen Hoover’s “Reminder of Him.“ book to read.
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