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Demi Moore’s personal life: From a tough childhood to her cordial relationship with Bruce Willis

Demi Moore is looking to win her first Oscar for ‘The Substance.’ Here’s what the ‘Ghost’ star’s personal life has been like.

Mario Anzuoni

Corina González

Update: Mar 1st, 2025 06:00 EST

Demi Moore has a long trajectory in the film industry. The actress established her career in the 1990s after starring in ‘Ghost’, a film in which she shared the screen with famous actor Patrick Swayze. However, despite having been acting for years, her work has finally been recognized in recent months by specialized critics thanks to ‘The Substance’.

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Moore has received several nominations and awards for her performance, winning the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actress, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Film, and the Best Actress Award at the SAG Awards. She was also nominated for Best Actress at the BAFTAs and the Academy Award.

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In her acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, Moore was thrilled to see this be her first time winning for her acting work. “I’m just in shock right now. I’ve been doing this a long time, like over 45 years, and this is the first time I’ve ever won anything as an actor. And I’m just so humbled and so grateful [...] And that corroded me over time, to the point where I thought, a few years ago, that maybe this was it. [...] And as I was at kind of a low point, I had this magical, bold, courageous, out-of-the-box, absolutely bonkers script come across my desk called ‘The Substance’. And the universe told me that you’re not done,” she added.

Demi Moore’s tough childhood and a cordial relationship after her separation from Bruce Willis

The actress, whose official name is Demetria Gene Moore, was born in Roswell, New Mexico, on November 11, 1962. Her biological father, Charles Foster Harmon Sr., abandoned her mother, Virginia. When Moore was three months old, her mother married Dan Guynes, who changed jobs frequently, so she moved many times.

According to People, the family moved about 30 times before Moore was a teenager, often in less than ideal conditions. In addition to poverty, Moore experienced health problems. At age 12, she developed a squint in her right eye, which required two surgeries to correct.

She also had to endure her parents' alcoholism and bickering, as well as her mother’s legal troubles, who had a long arrest record that included drunk driving and arson. The actress broke off contact with her mother in 1989, but they reconciled shortly before she died of a brain tumor on July 2, 1998. In 2019, Moore stated that she was raped at age 15 by a man who claimed he had paid her mother to do it.

Moore’s relationship with Bruce Willis

Moore and Willis had one of the strongest relationships in Hollywood before their split in 1998. The two met in August 1987 and married three months later. The couple had three daughters: Rumer Glenn Willis, born in 1988, Scout LaRue Willis, born in 1991, and Tallulah Belle Willis, born in 1994. They announced their separation on June 24, 1998, and divorced on Oct. 18, 2000.

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Despite the divorce, Moore maintains a close relationship with Willis, the father of her daughters, as well as the actor’s current wife Emma Heming. The actress has offered her support during the ‘Die Hard’ star’s health battle. In February 2022, Willis' family revealed that he had been diagnosed with aphasia. In February 2023 it was revealed that the actor had frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a disease for which there is no treatment.