Bruce Willis' family announced he would step away from acting in 2022; the actor was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in 2023

Bruce Willis recently made his first public appearance since 2022 after being diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. In an Instagram post, his wife, Emma Heming Willis, shows the 69-year-old actor, who grew up in Salem County, shaking hands and greeting first responders battling the ongoing California wildfires.

Bruce Willis retired from acting in 2022 and was then diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. He's rarely been seen in public since then.

Willis was diagnosed first with aphasia -- a condition where the brain's ability to understand or express language is impaired, according to the National Institutes of Health -- in 2022 before receiving an additional diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia in 2023, according to his family.

The iconic actor, in the midst of a dementia diagnosis, took time to visit first responders battling the Los Angeles wildfires in a rare new video.

Bruce Willis took time to thank first responders in Los Angeles as the city’s devastating wildfires continue to burn. The actor — in an Instagram video shared by his wife, Emma Heming Willis, on Thursday — is seen shaking hands and posing for photos with Los Angeles police officers working during the fires,

In an Instagram post shared by his wife Emma Heming Willis on Thursday, Willis can be seen shaking hands with a Los Angeles police officer.

Bruce Willis is thanking first responders amid the L.A. wildfires. In a new video shared by his wife Emma Heming Willis on Instagram Thursday, Willis can be seen shaking hands with a Los Angeles police officer and posing for a photo.

Bruce Willis emerges in his first public appearance since his diagnosis of FTD to show his support for first responders in Southern California.