Tragic Details About Bruce Willis' Daughter Scout

The following article includes mentions of addiction.

If you've ever wondered what it's like to be a nepo baby, just ask Scout Willis. The musician was born in Sun Valley, Idaho, in 1991 to Bruce Willis and Demi Moore. Despite her movie star parents' efforts to keep her out of the spotlight, Scout's life was heavily influenced by their stardom. "Up until I was in the third grade ... we'd live somewhere for three or four months at a time because my parents were working," she explained in a 2011 interview with StyleLikeU. Her nomadic childhood brought her to places like Luxembourg and France, making her worldly before the end of her elementary school days.

But being the child of Hollywood's hottest (now ex) couple wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. Scout was subjected to the brutal ways of online trolls at a young age, being dogged with criticism about her appearance. Her life on the internet only got more controversial when someone exposed her personal X, then Twitter, account. Scout has dealt with the struggles of addiction and sobriety, leaning on family and friends to support her. Now she is discovering the pain of what it is like to slowly lose her father.

As one of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore's three daughters, Scout Willis has been watched by the public since she was a baby; her looks have been the main topic over the years. Scout and her sisters have come under harsh criticism about their resemblance to their parents, with people suggesting that Bruce and Moore's features clash on their children. A Reddit thread picked the girls apart, with one user saying: "Demi's features on bruce's bones. Ideal will be oposite [sic]."

While Scout hasn't opened up about how the vicious tabloid vitriol has affected her, her sisters have. Rumer Willis got candid with HuffPost in 2019 about the cyberbullying she endured. "They said I had a huge jaw. They said I had a ′potato head,'" Willis said, referring to an article from Perez Hilton. Scout's other sister, Tallulah Willis, spotlighted her detractors on Instagram in 2024. She posted a screengrab of an Instagram comment calling her and her sisters "unattractive," writing: "it's important to call out this person to highlight an example of just regular Tuesday c–tyness." (via TooFab).

Scout Willis' time on the internet has been nothing short of chaotic. In 2012, it was discovered that the "Over and Over" singer was the author of salacious tweets under the handle @bougpunk during her time at Brown University. Some of the posts — exposed by the blog IvyGate at the time — included mentions of taking hard drugs and hating her parents. One even made a serious claim, suggesting that fashion photographer Terry Richardson attempted to be sexual with her. Another read: "I don't know what's worse for my bank account, my coke habit or my kombucha addiction."

After the tweets went viral, Scout quickly deleted the account and came out with a statement that asserted the posts were for a school project. A rep told Us Weekly that the contents of the Tweets were made up by Scout and two other classmates to incite a reaction from viewers. "This was done to illustrate how social media is utilized and that in today's social media culture, you can create a significant Twitter following based entirely on fabricated lies, and that the more outrageous and controversial the fabricated statement, the more followers you will get," they said. "Current media interest in the fabricated Twitter school assignment appears to prove that point."

After her shocking tweets about drugs and partying, a 20-year-old Scout Willis was arrested for underage drinking in New York City in 2012. Scout was allegedly caught drinking a beer in Union Square Park and gave police a fake ID. Fortunately, Scout was let off fairly easily. Prosecutors agreed to drop the charges if she agreed to completing two days of community services and sucessfully stay on the straight and narrow for six months — meaning no run-ins with the law. Scout talked about her carefree college days in a 2020 interview on the "Dopey" podcast, revealing that a past trauma led her to cope with alcohol and marijuana.

The desire to lean on substances seemingly ran in her family. Bruce Willis and Demi Moore both previously struggled with their drinking habits. The truth is, Moore battled addiction for years and even relapsed in 2012, causing an enormous strain on her relationship with her daughters. Both Rumer Willis and Tallulah Willis have been open about their own struggles with substance abuse, as well. All three sisters have candidly discussed their journeys to sobriety, leaning on each other and their community in the process.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Scout Willis admitted on the "Dopey" podcast that she had a revelation to get sober. "There was a point where I was like, 'You know what? Drinking isn't much my bag anymore,” she said, adding, "Because I was still waking up and always assuming — my anxious personality — that I had done the worst possible thing."

Scout has been incredibly revealing about her path to sobriety through her music. In her song "Goodbye," on her 2022 self-titled album, Scout described the feeling of letting go of her self-destructive behaviors. "So goodbye to getting high on the beach/Goodbye to my slurred and sloppy speech/Goodbye to chemical relaxation/Goodbye to self annihilation," she sings on the track.

Getting into detail about the song, she told Consequence that she wrote it after attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. "I'd recently decided to get sober, and it just sort of came through me," she said. Scout explained that addiction recovery was often a lonely experience. "Getting sober can feel really isolating at times, and I think that's why the community aspect of recovery is so important. Whenever I've gone to a meeting, I leave feeling like I am part of some cool club, and I loved the idea that this song could help engender a similar feeling."

After the devastating health news about Bruce Willis being diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia was revealed in 2022, fans all over the world have rallied in support of the legendary actor. And while the love from millions comes pouring into the hearts of the Willis family, Scout Willis understandably finds it hard to cope with her dad's declining health. "Feeling emotionally tired and a bit overwhelmed, yet also very in awe of the love so many people have for my papa," Scout wrote in a February 2023 Instagram Story (via People). His frontotemporal dementia diagnosis came on the heels of another tragic diagnosis of aphasia. After publicly announcing Bruce's health struggles, Scout got candid about the overwhelmingly positive response from fans on social media: "Yesterday was so surreal, sharing something so personal... I truly NEVER could have anticipated the depth and breadth of the love we received as a family yesterday."

The Willis family has been keeping fans of their father updated on his health. On the "Die Hard" star's birthday in 2023, Scout shared a bit of positive wisdom on Instagram, writing: "Our grief really does show us the depth of our loving for someone... Grief is a price I'll always pay to know what it is to feel such love." Bruce's wife, Emma Heming, also shared that sentiment on her Instagram, crediting her step-daughter for the inspiring words.