T

he announcement that former talk show host Wendy Williams has been diagnosed with aphasia has put the neurological condition — the same one actor Bruce Willis was diagnosed with in 2022 — back in the spotlight. Aphasia affects a person's ability to speak, read, write and understand others. The condition usually comes on suddenly from a brain injury or stroke, but in some cases it can develop over time as a result of a neurodegenerative disease. When that happens, the syndrome is known as primary progressive aphasia, or PPA. Williams' team said Thursday that her PPA diagnosis came last year, after a series of medical tests. Williams, 59, was also diagnosed with dementia. "Over the past few years, questions have been raised at times about Wendy’s ability to process information and many have speculated about Wendy’s condition, particularly when she began to lose words, act erratically at times, and have difficulty understanding financial transactions," her team said in a news release. Williams' team said that her conditions "have already presented significant hurdles," but that she is "receiving the care she requires to make sure she is protected and that her needs are addressed." Symptoms of aphasia Aphasia affects an estimated 2 million people in the U.S., and nearly 180,000 new cases are diagnosed each year, according to the National Aphasia Association. The symptoms — and their severity — vary based on which type of aphasia a person has. Some severely affect a patient's speech and ability to read and write. Other types leave patients able to understand speech well and read adequately, but cause them to have difficulty finding words, according to the association. In people with primary progressive aphasia, Williams' diagnosis, language skills become increasingly impaired over time. Some of the first symptoms are issues with speech and language; memory loss generally develops later.