Lethal Weapon star Danny Glover shares Alzheimer's diagnosis

Lethal Weapon star Danny Glover has revealed he has been living with Alzheimer’s disease for several years.

The actor, 79, was initially diagnosed in 2023 and the disease has since slowed his speech, movement and memories.

Appearing on the US Today show, Glover said he could “live with it”, but as the disease progressed “things are going to be different and changing”.

He had decided to come forward now as he and his family wanted to be part of removing the stigma from Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia.

“We all get old, it happens. That’s why I think it’s important that he tells his own story and he has ownership of his life,” Glover’s daughter, Mandisa, said.

Glover also told People he was not fully accepting of “all parts of it”.

“There are the moments that you keep remembering that validate the fact that you can remember stuff. And there are moments I’ll never forget,” he said.

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Mandisa told the outlet she had noticed a change in her father soon after he took home the Oscars’ honorary Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his lifelong dedication to charitable work and activism in 2022.

“The history of my dad is that he remembers every single thing back to 1970, what corner he was standing on, who he spoke to, what they spoke about, what colour they were wearing, everything,” she said, but that changed.

“He’d tell you so much about his parents – and I’ve heard those stories over and over – and pieces were missing. There would be pieces of the story missing. I said, ‘I wonder what’s going on.’”

Glover is best known for his role opposite Mel Gibson in the Lethal Weapon franchise.

He also starred in films like The Color Purple, Places in the Heart, and won an Emmy for playing Nelson Mandela in 1987’s Mandela.

Glover’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis came after fellow actor Bruce Willis′ family announced he had been diagnosed with aphasia, a disorder that affects the ability to speak, write and understand language.

In 2023, Willis’ wife, Emma Heming Willis, said his condition had progressed, and he now had frontotemporal dementia.

Willis was one of the top choices to star alongside Glover as Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon, but he turned down the role that eventually went to Mel Gibson.

Willis went on to star in Die Hard, the other defining action series of the 1980s.