- This woman is one of the world’s most famous actresses.
- She was a pillar of 1990s cinema as an icon of beauty and sensuality.
- However, her fame and recognition were preceded by difficult tests of fate.
Growing up, this future celebrity didn’t have an easy childhood, as it was marked by a mother who constantly drank and even traded her for a few hundred dollars. She rose above it all, achieved great success in her career, and is now a mother of three girls.
Some Background Information about the Actress
Her birth name is Demi Gene Guynes, and she was born on November 11, 1962. Her birth father, Air Force Airman Charles Harmon Sr., left her mother, Virginia King, after a marriage of only two months.
By the time this future star was born, her parents were no longer together. When she was three months old, her mother remarried a newspaper advertising salesman, Dan Guynes. Her stepfather changed jobs a lot, and this meant they had to move houses several times.
At 12, she underwent two eye surgeries to correct severe strabismus. She also suffered from kidney dysfunctions, and at 13, she discovered the truth about her birth father. While still a teenager, she left her mother to live with her grandmother.
Demi Moore enrolled at Fairfax High School, which she left in her junior year, and signed with the Elite Modeling Agency before enrolling in drama classes. In 1981, she married musician Freddy Moore and took his last name for the rest of her artistic career, which, fortunately for her, took off that same year.
In 1981, she landed a role in “General Hospital” before making her film debut in “Choices.” She then starred in movies like the 1984 “Blame It on Rio” and “No Small Affair.” In 1985 she started getting public recognition when she starred in “St. Elmo’s Fire.”
The following year, Demi had a positive turning point in her career with “About Last Night.” However, her most successful movie is “Ghost” — a 1990 romantic fantasy thriller directed by Jerry Zucker. The actress attained her A-list status with roles in “A Few Good Men,” “Indecent Proposal,” and “Disclosure.”
By 1995, she had become the highest-paid actress in Hollywood for her role in “Striptease.” On one hand, her career took off; however, on the other, her marriage with Freddy only lasted just five years.
In 1987, she married Bruce Willis, and the two became one of the most famous couples until 2000 when they divorced. The couple had three daughters: Rumer Glenn, Scout LaRue, and Tallulah Belle. After her divorce from Bruce, she remarried for the third time in 2005.
The star and Ashton Kutcher’s marriage also ended in divorce in 2013. She didn’t have children with the younger actor but Demi revealed that she had suffered a miscarriage in the sixth month of her pregnancy.
On September 24, 2019, Demi published her tell-all memoir. The book titled “Inside Out” revealed her dark childhood, the adversities she had faced, and her resilience. Her memoir was an instant number-one New York Times bestseller and one thing it addressed was her difficult childhood.
Demi’s Relationship with Her Mother
The actress talked about her days growing up in the book, explaining that her parents battled alcoholism and raised her in an environment filled with infidelities, fights, and constant moving. When Demi was only 12, her mother attempted suicide, and she had to save her from an overdose.
Virginia Guynes, Demi Moore’s mother, posing in the woods near her Las Vegas, New Mexico, home in 1993 | Source: Getty Images
Demi had to take out the pills her mother had tried to swallow from her throat while her father held her mouth open. That incident happened many other times. At 13, she found her parents’ marriage certificate, and that was when she realized that Dan Guynes, the man she knew as her father, was not her birth father.
When she asked her mother if Dan was her father, the parent lied to her. When Demi visited an aunt in Texas, she asked her, and she eventually invited her birth father over. Virginia never wanted her daughter to know that her birth father existed.
Virginia Guynes, Demi Moore’s mother, posing in a field close to her Las Vegas, New Mexico home in 1992 | Source: Getty Images
Demi felt betrayed by everyone but her knowing, however she also understood that her mother had felt protective. As a teenager, Virginia took her along to bars so men would notice them. Another very serious episode that marked her adolescence forever was when her mother gave her off at 15. Virginia supposedly traded her to an acquaintance, who violated her.
When she sat down with “Good Morning America’s” Diane Sawyer to discuss her memoir, the actress mentioned that the man revealed the amount, $500, he had given her teenage mother to be with her. Even though it was a painful experience, she doesn’t believe that her mother sold her.
However, she blamed her mother for putting her in harm’s way and giving a man access to her body. Still, she understood that Virginia couldn’t protect her. Demi later became a parent herself and struggled to be a good mother to her own children.
What Was Demi’s Role as a Mother Like?
After publishing her book, many more TV shows hosted Demi, where she talked about her troubled childhood and relationship with her mother. She recalled that after Dan and Virginia separated, she became responsible for her mother’s well-being.
Taking care of her mother was challenging, seeing as she depended on alcohol at the time. Two years after Demi’s stepfather’s separation from her mother, he committed suicide at 37. His suicide only worsened Virginia’s alcoholism.
In 1990, Demi broke off contact with her mother after she walked away from a rehabilitation stay that she had paid for. However, the actress reconciled with Virginia before she died of cancer in 1998.
Demi Moore at the WSJ Magazine 2021 Innovator Awards on November 1, 2021, in New York | Photo: Getty Images
Just as the star had a strained relationship with her own mother, her daughter, Tallulah, also had a difficult one with her. Tallulah and Demi’s rocky relationship began when the actress was married to Ashton.
There was a painful lack of communication between the mother-daughter pair. The actress had been dealing with addiction and was dependent on Ashton, leaving Tallulah feeling abandoned.
Rumer and Scout having moved out worsened Tallulah’s feeling of abandonment. She felt forgotten and believed that the actress didn’t love her anymore. In a 2020 Instagram post for Mother’s Day, Tallulah confessed that she had not spoken to Demi for nearly three years, and Mother’s Day made it more heartbreaking for her.
However, after Tallulah had “a metamorphosis of inward self-reflection,” her willingness to forgive allowed their estrangement to end. She and her famous mother reconciled and now Demi’s presence in her life is significant.
She often wondered what type of connection she and a 26-year-old Demi would have had if they met then. Tallulah figured they would’ve shared lots of laughter but now she “revel[ed] in all that” her mother is and continues to teach her, adding:
“I witness what this day means for you, and where you came from.”
She lovingly concluded her post noting how every crevice in her mother was gilded and worthy, before sharing how she loved the star “eternally.” Demi allowed her children to review the manuscript of her book and request changes, but none of them had any revisions.
Scout said she was proud of the actress for the internal work she finally did after being in survival mode for so long. The star’s daughter thought her memoir showed how comfortable and safe Demi is with herself.
However, the book did touch on some uncomfortable memories for all three siblings, who’ve also struggled with their own body-image issues and substance abuse. Scout confessed that the book challenged them due to their mother making an effort to expose the most vulnerable parts of her life, that happened to coincide with her daughter’s most traumatic ones.
Rumer got to learn about their mother’s history from the book in more detail. She felt children grew up imagining that their parents are gods but as they became older, that’s when it dawned on them that they are just ordinary people.
Today, Demi is closer to her children than ever. Their closeness led them to quarantine together during the coronavirus pandemic. The family’s bond extended to Bruce and his wife and children. In a February 2023 statement, they revealed how united they are as a blended family as they fought alongside Bruce against his 2022 aphasia diagnosis.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text “help” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741, or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
