How Bruce Willis is retiring with $333m fortune

The Hollywood heavyweight has been forced to turn his back on acting, but he’s made millions over the last four decades working in the film industry.

Hollywood action hero icon Bruce Willis shocked fans around the world after giving up on acting because of a debilitating brain disorder.

On Wednesday local time, it was revealed the Die Hard star, 67, has been struggling with aphasia for some time, a medical condition that can affect a person’s ability to speak, write and understand language.

The announcement was made by his family including fellow actor and former spouse Demi Moore.

“To Bruce’s amazing supporters, as a family we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities,” his family wrote in a statement shared to each of their Instagram accounts.

They added that he will be “stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him”.

Willis won’t be leaving the industry empty-handed, however. During his decades as a film star, he made bank, and has an estimated net worth of $US250 million ($A333 million).

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Image posted by Scout Willis with father Bruce after revealing his diagnosis to the world.

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Willis has amassed the fortune largely because of a great deal he scored for himself with the making of the 1999 movie The Sixth Sense.

The supernatural thriller, where Willis played the role of a child psychologist, netted him a whopping $US100 million.

While he was paid $14 million to star in the film, he also negotiated to get a cut of the profit, which earned him the remaining $US86 million.

That is the most a single actor has ever received for a film, Celebrity Net Worth reported.

Although Keanu Reeves received $US156 million for his work in The Matrix, that was for two films, not one as in Willis’ case.

Bruce Willis had to wear an earpiece on the set of American Siege because he struggled to remember his lines due to his medical condition.

Willis began his career in the theatre in the 1970s before rising to fame in the 1980s comedy-drama TV series Moonlighting starring opposite Cybill Shepherd.

He soon became a Hollywood heavyweight, headlining prominent movies such as Die Hard, Pulp Fiction and Armageddon.

He also had a brief foray into music.

Reuters reported that he has appeared in about 100 films over his 40 years of acting.

Over the course of his career, the Hollywood veteran has appeared in films grossing more than $2.5 billion, according to online database IMDb.

In 2006, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He also received critical acclaim for his acting in Pulp Fiction and The Sixth Sense.

He won a Golden Globe Award (for Moonlighting) and two Emmys (for Friends and Moonlighting) and has been nominated for best actor at the Oscars four times.

Bruce Willis and wife Emma Heming in 2019. Picture: Dia Dipasupil/WireImage

According to entertainment publication Marco, Willis scored multimillion dollar deals for many of his films over the decades.

In 1988, he was paid $5 million to star in Die Hard, which was a huge amount at the time and shook up Hollywood salaries as a result.

Then the following year, he earned $10 million for voicing the baby in Look Who's Talkinga year later.

He had a particularly great decade in the 1990s. In 1991, he was paid $10 million for starring in The Last Boy Scout in 1991, in 1995 nabbed $15 million for Die Hard: With a Vengeance and just a year later, earned $16.5 million for Last Man Standing. In 1998, he received $14.8 million for Armageddon.

Willis is married to model Emma Heming, 43 and they have two daughters, Mabel and Evelyn. He was previously married to actor Demi Moore for 23 years. They have three daughters, Rumer, Scout and Tallulah.

Originally published as How Bruce Willis is retiring with $333m fortune