The Untold Truth Of Demi Moore
Actress Demi Moore released her first-ever memoir, titled Inside Out, on Sept. 24, 2019. Ahead of its release, HarperCollins released a statement (via The Hollywood Reporter) describing Inside Out as "emotionally charged." The publishing company continued, "Inside Out is a story of survival, success, and surrender — as well as resilience: a wrenchingly honest portrayal of one woman's at once ordinary and iconic life."
In a September 2019 interview with The New York Times, Moore revealed that her motivation for writing the memoir was, in part, to replace the version of herself that everyone thinks they know with the version of herself she knows to be true. Though Moore had originally signed on to pen a memoir around 2012, a bevy of health issues and personal problems left the star unable find the mental and emotional energy to recount her life for all to read. However, as she revealed to The New York Times, writing the book ultimately became an integral part of her journey back to health "physically, mentally, [and] emotionally."
As the stories in Inside Out reveal, there's much more to this actress than what the tabloids would have you believe. Here's the untold truth of Demi Moore.
Demi Moore isn't her real name
Just as people are sometimes described as having that undeniable "It" factor, some names are so recognizable that it's difficult to imagine the celebrities to which they're attached being anything other than bona fide stars. However, parents often don't set out with the intention to give their children star-quality monikers, meaning many of your favorite celebs' names have been sliced and diced to roll off the tongue with ease. For example, Jelena Noura Hadid became Gigi Hadid, Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson became Katy Perry, and Demetria Gene Guynes became Demi Moore.
According to a 2007 profile of Moore in The Guardian, Demi is a shortened form of the name Demetria, which was taken from a shampoo her mother spotted while flipping through a magazine. Her last name, Guynes, was the surname of the man Moore believed to be her father — Danny Guynes. However, as revealed in The Guardian, a teenaged Moore later discovered her biological father was a man named Charles Harman. Still, Demi kept her stepfather's last name until taking (and keeping) the last name of her first husband, musician Freddy Moore.
Demi Moore's childhood was far from easy
Long before finding fame, Demi Moore was a girl whose young life was riddled with hardships and tragedy. In addition to undergoing surgery to correct a lazy eye and overcoming a debilitating kidney disease, Moore had to move seemingly endless times before she turned 15 due to her stepfather's sales job. In a 1991 interview with Vanity Fair, Moore explained, "When you move every six months of your life, you are kind of a nothing who becomes each place you go." The star continued, "The only frame of reference I had was looking at people in the most unsophisticated way through magazines, TV, movies. Those people seemed to have something, seemed to be important."
When she was 15 years old, Moore's mother, Virginia, and her stepfather, Danny Guynes, separated. Two years later, Guynes took his own life. "I lived on my own then, so I was very distant, but I had to deal with it," the star told Vanity Fair. She revealed that she holds no ill will toward her stepfather for his decision. "I accept and love him for whatever he needed to do," Moore told the publication.
Demi Moore wanted to reach her goals "as fast as possible"
According to a profile on Demi Moore in the August 1991 issue of Vanity Fair, the actress dropped out of high school when she was 16 years old. "Since school wasn't good for [my mother], she never impressed its importance on me," Moore revealed to Vanity Fair. She continued, "Reaching my goal as fast as possible was more important."
That goal was to become an actress, thanks to inspiration provided by a 17-year-old German actress who lived in Moore's apartment building. "She didn't read English very well, so she'd have me read scripts for her," Moore told the publication. Describing her neighbor, Moore added, "She had a real strong sense of who she was. ... I wanted to drink in. I wanted to learn what it was she had."
According to Moore, that neighbor's name was Nastassia Kinski — an actress who would go on to win a Golden Globe for her performance in the film Tess. As Moore revealed to Vanity Fair, Kinski moved, and Moore never saw her again. "She probably doesn't even remember [me]," Moore said.
Demi Moore was a trailblazer for pay equality
The gender-based wage gap affecting Hollywood has become a topic of much controversy and conversation. Perhaps one of the most infamous cases of this disparity was the 2018 reveal that Michelle Williams was paid under $1,000 for All the Money in the World reshoots, while her male co-star Mark Wahlberg made $1.5 million.
Today, Williams and other celebs are celebrated for speaking out and demanding fair compensation for their work; however, at the height of her career, Demi Moore was vilified for securing a bigger paycheck. The actress earned $12.5 million for her starring role in the 1996 film Striptease — which was then the highest salary for any actress in history, according to The Virginian-Pilot. Unfortunately, Moore's paycheck also earned her the nickname "Gimme Moore."
Despite the criticism, Entertainment Weekly reported that Moore's money move inspired other actresses (like Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan) to bump their asking rate. In a 2019 interview with The New York Times, Moore addressed her trailblazing status in closing the wage gap, saying, "Clearly it didn't do enough because we're still, this many years later, dealing with it."
Demi Moore was worried this movie might be "an absolute disaster"
Many of the most beloved films of all time contain scenes that lend themselves to reenacting. It's safe to say that every cruise ship has seen at least one couple pretend to fly (like Jack and Rose in Titanic), every dance floor a half-hearted attempt at that Dirty Dancing lift, and every pottery class a melodramatic reenactment of the sultry pottery scene in Ghost — the romantic 1990 flick starring Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze.
There's no question that Ghost is forever cemented in pop culture as a beloved work of cinema. However, Moore revealed to Jimmy Fallon that she could have never predicted the film's success based solely on its plot — which centers around a ghost trying to communicate with his grieving girlfriend and warn her of impending danger. During a September 2019 episode of The Tonight Show, Moore recalled reading the script and thinking, "Okay, this is either going to be really good and interesting or an absolute disaster."
Luckily, the "really good and interesting" flick is still a hit decades later.
Demi Moore has major regrets about this relationship
Demi Moore starred alongside Jon Cryer in the 1984 movie No Small Affair, in which she portrayed a 22-year-old aspiring singer who develops a romance with a teenaged amateur photographer (played by Cryer). In her 2019 memoir, Inside Out, Moore described her relationship with Cryer, writing (via People), "Jon fell for me in real life, too, and lost his virginity to me while we were making that movie." Lamenting that she was "callous" with his feelings, Moore continued, "I stole what could have been such an important and beautiful moment from him."
Luckily for Moore, she doesn't need to regret taking Cryer's virginity — because, according to the actor himself, she didn't. After Moore's memoir was released, Cryer tweeted, "While I'm sure she was totally justified making that assumption based on [my] skill level (and the stunned look on my face at the time), I had actually lost my virginity in high school." Still, the Pretty in Pink star added, "But she's right [about] the other part, I was over the moon for her during a very troubled time in her life."
Demi Moore's first marriage was marred by infidelity
In 1980, Demi Guynes married musician Freddy Moore. The future movie star was only 18 years old at the time, and still grieving the loss of her stepfather Danny Guynes. "My dad died in October. I turned eighteen in November. I got married to Freddy the following February," Demi Moore wrote in her 2019 memoir, Inside Out (via Entertainment Tonight). "It was obviously a confusing and fraught time."
According to Moore, that difficult time led to infidelity on her part. As revealed in her memoir, the night before marrying her first husband, Moore left her own bachelorette party to go to the apartment of a guy she'd recently met on a movie set.
"I couldn't face the fact that I was getting married to distract myself from grieving the death of my father," Moore wrote in Inside Out (via People). She continued, writing that she eventually confessed to Freddy Moore that she'd cheated on him multiple times and revealing that he quickly moved on with a guitar student who was 14 years his junior. According to the actress, said guitar student and Freddy Moore are still together today.
Demi Moore's nude Vanity Fair cover photo wasn't planned
Demi Moore made waves when she appeared nude and seven months pregnant on the cover of Vanity Fair's August 1991 issue. However, as Moore revealed to Jimmy Fallon in a September 2019 episode of The Tonight Show, she never planned for the photo to be seen by millions. According to the actress, the photo was taken by photographer Annie Leibovitz at the end of a planned Vanity Fair photoshoot, and was originally only meant for Moore and her family.
"While we were doing it, I was like, 'Oh, God, it would be amazing if they had the courage to put this on the cover,'" Moore revealed. She continued, "They came back and said, 'Hey, we'd like to do that. Are you okay with it?'"
Despite the backlash the photo received, Moore doesn't regret baring it all for the world to see. "To help women love themselves and their natural shapes — that's a remarkable and gratifying thing to have accomplished, particularly for someone like me who spent years doing battle with her body," Moore wrote in her 2019 memoir, Inside Out (via Entertainment Tonight).
Demi Moore struggled with food and exercise for years
While Demi Moore bravely allowed her nude, pregnant body to be displayed on Vanity Fair covers across the nation to show that "a pregnant woman could be beautiful and glamorous" (via Entertainment Tonight), the actress couldn't shake the body image issues that had plagued her for as long as she could remember.
In her 2019 memoir, Inside Out, Moore revealed that there were times at the height of her career where she could "barely bring [herself] to look in a mirror." Those feelings of insecurity intensified when, according to Moore, the director of About Last Night asked the actress to lose weight. Soon, Moore began to see food as "kind of a punishment for everything [she] believed was wrong and dirty about [herself]."
Upon giving birth to her second child, Scout Willis, Moore became obsessed with exercising. The star revealed in Inside Out (via People), "I didn't feel like I could stop exercising." She continued, "Getting in shape for [A Few Good Men] launched the obsession with working out that would consume me over the next five years. I never dared let up."
Demi Moore was part of the famous Brat Pack
The '80s was a career-defining decade for Demi Moore. After her film career got its jumpstart with the 1984 flick Blame It on Rio, Moore went on to star in a number of popular films, including St. Elmo's Fire, in which she appeared alongside stars like Rob Lowe and former flame Emilio Estevez.
Because of her association with Lowe and Estevez, Moore was unceremoniously inducted by the media into the so-called "Brat Pack." Labeled by David Blum's 1985 New York article, "Hollywood's Brat Pack," the group contained a number young, talented, wildly famous actors whose careers in the '80s were bursting at the seams with promise. However, when the Lawrence Journal-World asked a then-22-year-old Moore how she felt about being labeled a Brat Pack member, the rising star replied, "I hate it! I find it embarrassing, hateful, and demeaning." Moore continued, "The man who wrote that seems jealous because we're young and talented. So he filled the article with lies: He implied we all hate each other, and now Rob and Emilio are leery of trusting each other."
Bruce Willis made a bad first impression on Demi Moore
In Inside Out, Demi Moore detailed the early stages of her relationship with actor Bruce Willis, as well as their high-profile marriage and eventual divorce. Considering the couple are famously still friends today, one might assume that the two hit it off from the very beginning. However, according to the actress, that couldn't be less true.
As Moore recalled in Inside Out (via The Telegraph), Willis didn't make the greatest first impression. Describing him as a "cocky, dark, and handsome guy," Moore recalled, "I'd thought Bruce was dismissive at first." She continued, writing, "We both had deals with TriStar Pictures, so I said, 'I hear you have the good office at TriStar.' He replied with something short, like, 'I'm never there.' My impression was, he's kind of a jerk."
Fortunately, Willis redeemed himself in Moore's eyes at an afterparty where, according to the actress, he was "much more solicitous." Describing the way Willis remained noticeably attentive throughout the evening, the actress wrote, "I was stunned to find out later that he'd actually been on a date that night with another woman."
Demi Moore is "proud" of her divorce from Bruce Willis
While describing her marriage to Bruce Willis in Inside Out, Demi Moore revealed that the two bonded over shared childhood trauma, eventually "becoming the 'It' couple" and starting a family of their very own (via The Telegraph). However, their marriage was far from smooth sailing.
According to a 2019 profile in The New York Times, Moore revealed in her memoir that Willis was "ambivalent" about her work, as he felt it took time away from their family. The actor also allegedly confessed to Moore that he wasn't certain he wanted to be married. However, despite Willis' feelings, as well as Moore's suspicion that he'd cheated on her, the couple stayed married from 1987 until 2000.
"It's a funny thing to say, but I'm very proud of our divorce," Moore revealed in Inside Out (via People). Admitting the split "wasn't easy at first," Moore wrote,"[We] managed to move the heart of our relationship, the heart of what created our family, into something new that gave the girls a loving, supportive environment with both parents." The star added, "We felt more connected than we did before the divorce."
Demi Moore's marriage to Ashton Kutcher made her feel something she never had before
In a 2007 profile of Demi Moore in The Guardian, the actress is described as having "a soft glow" whenever she referenced Ashton Kutcher with the words "my husband." According to the profile, Moore gushed about her new, much younger husband (whom she married in 2005), saying, "Who he is on a soul level has definitely lived beyond his 29 years."
In Inside Out, Moore revealed that her relationship with the That '70s Show star felt like a fresh start (via The New York Times). "[It felt like] a do-over," Moore wrote. She continued, writing, "[He made me feel] like I could just go back in time and experience what it was like to be young, with him — much more so than I'd ever been able to experience it when I was actually in my twenties."
During a September 2019 interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Moore revealed, "I really felt like I had created an addiction to [Kutcher] ... my codependency, in a way I never had before, I've never had that attachment."
Demi Moore was pregnant with Ashton Kutcher's baby
Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher wed in a secret 2005 Beverly Hills ceremony, two years after sparking a romance no one could have predicted. According to The New York Times, however, unbeknownst to the general public was the fact that Moore had become pregnant with Kutcher's child.
As The New York Times explains, Moore's 2019 memoir, Inside Out, details the couple's pregnancy — as well as Moore's eventual miscarriage. According to the publication, Moore wrote that the unborn child was girl, and the actress had intended her name to be Chaplin Ray. Unfortunately, she miscarried six months into her pregnancy — something she blamed on breaking her sobriety upon entering a relationship with Kutcher.
In a 2019 interview with Good Morning America, Moore revealed how the miscarriage and failed pregnancy attempts that followed impacted her life, saying, "I can't even really bring fully to words how lost, empty, desperate, confused [I was]." The star added, "I really lost sight of everything that was in front of me."
Kutcher and Moore finalized their divorce in 2013, two years after announcing their separation amid rumors of Kutcher's infidelity.