More than 2 million Americans have aphasia, including Bruce Willis and Wendy Williams

James Powel and Camille Fine, USA TODAY
·2 min read
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Wendy William's care team announced Thursday that the talk show host was diagnosed with aphasia and frontotemporal dementia, adding to the list of celebrities who suffer from the aphasia.

The announcement drew comparisons to Bruce Willis who also suffers from both aphasia and frontotemporal dementia.

Other celebrities have announced their diagnoses including actresses Emilia Clarke and Sharon Stone. About 2 million people in the United States suffer from aphasia, according to the National Aphasia Association.

"My full name is Emilia Isobel Euphemia Rose Clarke. But now I couldn’t remember it," Clarke told the New Yorker about the process of her diagnosis. "Instead, nonsense words tumbled out of my mouth and I went into a blind panic. I’d never experienced fear like that—a sense of doom closing in. I could see my life ahead, and it wasn’t worth living. I am an actor; I need to remember my lines. Now I couldn’t recall my name."

The disease affects a person's ability to speak and understand speech, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Here are some of the celebrities who have been diagnosed with aphasia.

Celebrities diagnosed with aphasia

  • Wendy Williams

  • Bruce Willis

  • Sharon Stone

  • Emilia Clarke

  • Patricia Neal

  • Kirk Douglas

  • Dick Clark

  • Randy Travis

  • Ellen Corby

  • Terry Jones

What is Aphasia?

Aphasia is a disease that effects speech and language comprehension caused by head trauma or a brain tumor, according to the Mayo Clinic.

According to the Clinic, symptoms of the disease can include:

  • Speaking in short or incomplete sentences

  • Speaing in sentences that don't make sense

  • Substituting one word for another or one sound for another

  • Speaking in unrecognizable words

  • Having difficulty finding words

  • Not understanding other people's conversation

  • Not understanding what they read

  • Writing sentences that don't make sense

Ability to understand different parts of language affected in different ways for people with the disease.

The Mayo Clinic recommends seeking immediate medical attention if a person shows signs of the disease.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Aphasia afflicts Wendy Williams, Bruce Willis, other celebrities