celebrity

Addiction issues and friends after divorce: Inside Demi Moore and Bruce Willis' unusual family life.

This post mentions sexual assault and might be triggering for some readers. 

When iconic A-list couple Demi Moore and Bruce Willis separated in 1998, it shook Hollywood.

They’d been walking red carpets at film premieres in leather jackets and teashade glasses together since the late 80s. She, a ‘screen siren’ with leading lady sex appeal; he, a blockbuster action star known for playing handsome men living on the edge.

But behind all their joint success, their marriage was crumbling, with the couple officially finalising their divorce in 2000.

WATCH: Here’s how celebrities are spending isolation, post continues after video.


Video by Mamamia.

Earlier this year, Moore and Willis were isolating together amid the coronavirus pandemic. Instantly, everyone wanted to know: are Bruce Willis and Demi Moore back together??? But it turns out, in 2020, going into lockdown with your ex ain’t no big thing.

According to their Instagrams, the famous Hollywood exes were isolating together with their three daughters, two of the daughter’s boyfriends, another unidentified guest and many, many dogs.

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Also – and this is important – the whole lot were seen wearing matching green and white stripped onesies. Yes, even the bloody dogs.

“Family bonding,” Moore captioned an image of her clan in their matching get ups. (Willis and another man also appear to be holding giant-sized spoons and forks…) Their daughter Tallulah – who Moore was previously estranged from for three years – also posted an image of her parents with the caption, “Chaotic neutral”.

 




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Family bonding ????

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chaotic neutral

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Speaking on the Dopey podcast, Scout Willis opened up about what it was like isolating with her divorced parents.

“It’s been really funny to have both of my parents in the house where they raised us, which has been really cute,” she shared.

“They’re both such nerdy, adorable, 90s parents in a small town where they chose to have their kids and not be in LA. It’s been pretty cute,” she added.

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“It’s some divine timing too, getting this much time to hang out with them.”

Scout also explained why Willis’ wife, Emma Heming Willis, was previously staying in Los Angeles with the couple’s two young daughters, Mabel and Evelyn.

“It’s been so funny because to me, they’re just like my super f**king weird parents but to everyone else, they’re at this different level,” she said.

“My step mum [Emma] was supposed to come up here with my little sisters but my younger sister, who is now about to be six years old, at a park, had never gotten the talk about not f**king with hypodermic needles that she found so she actually tried to poke her shoe with it and poked her foot,” she explained.

“So my step mum had to be in LA waiting to get the results from taking her to the doctor so my dad came up here and then travel got crazy so my step mum stayed in LA with my little sisters.”

 




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Family book club… ⁣ How to Rule the World from Your Couch — quarantine edition.

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Almost nothing sums up the strangeness of the times we’re living in better than the sight of Demi Moore and Bruce Wills looking so incredibly wholesome and happy to be staying home together to flatten the COVID-19 curve.

It also made us nostalgic for the story (and photos) of their relationship, so keep scrolling for a deep dive into the Hollywood power couple’s history.

Inside Demi Moore and Bruce Willis’ marriage and divorce.

Moore, 57, and Willis, 65, met as you’d expect celebrities couples do – at a film premiere.

In 1987, Moore attended the premiere of Stakeout with her ex-fiance, actor Emilio Estevez (Martin Sheen’s son, Charlie’s brother). There, she met Willis.

In her memoir Inside Out, Moore described their first interactions, saying, “My impression was, he’s kind of a jerk… but Bruce was so gallant — in his own boisterous way, a real gentleman.”

As her side of the story goes, Moore left the premiere after obliging when Willis asked for her number. While driving home, Willis reportedly pulled up in a stretch limo in the next lane, calling out her name while poking through the sunroof. The couple married within four months of meeting – it’s the stuff of classic rom coms.

At the height of both of their careers – Moore with lead roles in films like Indecent Proposal and A Few Good Men and Willis with the Die Hard franchise – success took a toll on their marriage.

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You can scroll through these peak-90s throwback photos of Moore and Willis below. Such nostalgia. And the fashion!

The couple at the 39th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in 1987. Image: Getty.
At a "Saturday Night Live" After Party in 1988. Image: Getty.
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Young love, circa 1989. Image: Getty.
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These outfits!! Image: Getty.
At the 47th Annual Golden Globe Awards in 1990. Image: Getty.
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This 1990 bucket hat ensemble is everything. Image: Getty.
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The outfit of a leading lady at the 1992 premiere of A Few Good Men. Image: Getty.
More circa 1992 love. Image: Getty.
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A stoic 1994 lewk. Image: Getty.
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This photo was taken two years before the couple separated. Image: Getty.
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With daughters Scout Willis and Rumer Willis at the 1996 Striptease premiere. Image: Getty.

According to The New York Times, Moore wrote in her memoir "Willis was ambivalent about her work, which he felt took time away from their family, and he told her he was unsure if he wanted to be married".

They separated in 1998 and divorced two years later.

Moore and Willis managed to avoid going down the well-trodden past of messy, high-profile divorces.

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"I think Bruce was fearful at the beginning that I was going to make our split difficult, and that I would express my anger and whatever baggage that I had from our marriage by obstructing his access to the kids — that I’d turn to all of those ploys divorcing couples use as weapons,” she wrote in her book. “But I didn’t, and neither did he.”

After finalising their divorce in 2000, news of Moore's relationship with noughties sitcom and teen movie actor Ashton Kutcher made headlines in 2003 because of their 15-year age gap. They divorced in 2013 after 10 years together. Moore and Kutcher never had children – they miscarried six months into their first pregnancy before their 2005 marriage.

Willis also remarried. He shares two daughters with his now-wife Emma Heming Willis, Mabel Ray, eight, and Evelyn Penn, five. The couple just celebrated their 11-year wedding anniversary. It doesn't look like Heming Willis and the kids are isolating with the wider Willis clan, but whispers of a breakup were squashed when she commented on Moore's Instagram post, "[Family bonding] at it's finest, love and miss you guys."

Willis and Moore have remained close in the years since their 13-year marriage ended. Moore attended Willis and Heming’s wedding, and was there again when they renewed their vows in 2019. In her memoir, she wrote about how proud she is of their divorce and ability to co-parent their kids.

demi moore bruce willis kids
L-R: Emma Heming, Rumer Willis, Bruce Willis, Tallulah Belle Willis, Demi Moore and Scout LaRue Willis in 2015. Image: Getty.
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Bruce Willis and Demi Moore's kids.

Together, Moore and Willis had three children: Rumer, born in 1988, Scout born in 1991 (and the famous bump in her mother's now-iconic Vanity Fair nude pregnancy cover shoot), and Tallulah born in 1994.

"I didn’t talk to my mom for almost three years and during that shattered time this day would transport me from fragmented pieces to absolute dust," she wrote on Instagram, alongside a recent photo of the two.

"I remember tearing up driving to work upon hearing a radio ad that cheerily recommend which ‘perfume Mom would absolutely adore’. I digested the entire celebratory nature of the day as an insensitive slight to MY pain and MY story," she continued.

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"However, my story changed. Through a metamorphosis of inward self reflection and a malleability to forgive, three years did not stretch to forever. The gratitude of that truth has never lost its potency. I am magnetically transfixed by my mother, if you know me personally you know the magnitude of her presence in my life."

 




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Channeling love and strength to every mother to be, tired mamas, step moms, and mamas who’ve lost something precious. I’m sending it to anyone who struggles to celebrate a day when it reminds them of a loss. I didn’t talk to my mom for almost 3 years and during that shattered time this day would transport me from fragmented pieces to absolute dust. I remember tearing up driving to work upon hearing a radio ad that cheerily recommend which ‘perfume Mom would absolutely adore’. I digested the entire celebratory nature of the day as an insensitive slight to MY pain and MY story. However, my story changed. Through a metamorphosis of inward self reflection and a malleability to forgive, 3 years did not stretch to forever. The gratitude of that truth has never lost its potency. I am magnetically transfixed by my mother, if you know me personally you know the magnitude of her presence in my life. I often wonder what kind of connection could be formed were I to meet the 26 year old Demi. I think we’d have a lot of laughter. The kind where you are silent and doubled over and gasping for a sliver of air. The here and now is a day that started with a running hug to my maternal deity and a sloppy cheek kiss. I revel in all that you are @demimoore and all that you continue to teach me. I witness what this day means for you, and where you came from. Every nook and cranny of you is worthy and gilded. I love you eternally your baby, tallulah belle

A post shared by  tallulah (@buuski) on

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It's not the first time she has spoken about being estranged from her mum.

Appearing on Jada Pinkett Smith’s “Red Table Talk” Facebook Watch show with Rumer Willis and Moore in November, 2019, Tallulah spoke about how her mum's addictions impacted her. Particularly, Moore's 2012 overdose which caused her not to speak to her mother for three years.

"What happened was, she relapsed when I was nine and no one in my family spoke about it and I had no idea what was going on, she had been sober my entire childhood," she said.

"Watching the behaviour with Ashton, those years, everyone left the house and it was just me living there. I felt very forgotten. I nurtured a narrative that she didn't love me and I truly believed it."

Tallulah has been open in the past with her own experiences of addiction, previously speaking at-length on Instagram about her eating disorder and recovering from alcohol and drug addiction. Tallulah also said she began drinking and almost died of alcohol poisoning when she was a teenager after she “guzzled” vodka.

Now, the youngest of Moore and Willis' children has a clothing label called Wyllis. She is also dating film director Dillon Buss, who is in isolation with the Willis' too.

Oh, and Tallulah, like many others on social media, felt like quarantine was a great time to get her dad to shave her head.

 




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????

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????

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Rumer Willis, 32, is an actress and singer. She's been in movies including Hostage, The House Bunny, Sorority Row and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In January 2020, Rumer posted on Instagram celebrating three years of sobriety. Rumer and her mum also appear to be rebuilding their relationship, which reportedly suffered during Moore's relationship with Kutcher.

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Rumer opened up about how she lost her virginity at 18-years-old to an "older man", in a preview of the latest Red Table Talk episode. 

"When I lost my virginity when I was 18, I was more concerned with the shame that I was feeling at not having done it," she told Jada Pinket Smith. 

"I was not abused, or it wasn't rape, but I didn't say yes. I wasn't gung-ho about it. But I also didn't say no. I just let it happen."

The actress went on to explain that the older man "took advantage" and didn't give her the chance to give consent. 

"[He] didn't check in," she said. '"That's where I feel like the man's responsibility is. No means no, but what if you can't say no?"


 




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Joyously and Gratefully Celebrating 3 Years of Sobriety Today!! ???? So proud of myself not just for my sobriety but in the many tools I have learned the last three years that have changed my world immensely. Living my life clear headed and without any negative distractions has been the biggest gift I have ever given myself. I hope anyone who is struggling with their own battles knows they are not alone and will always have an ally and safe open ear from me. Be gentle with yourself. It is a process. Compassion for myself has been the greatest lesson and I hope if can be one for you too. Really looking forward to getting another chance to do my (20)20’s again ???? Happy New Year ????

A post shared by  Rumer Willis (@rumerwillis) on

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Middle sister Scout is a musician and activist. The 29-year-old had some early acting gigs, and now often sings with older sister Rumer. Scout has also spoken publicly about living with addiction – in 2017, she celebrated one year of sobriety on Instagram.

Her boyfriend of two years Jake Miller was also isolating with the Willis fam.

 




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As for how the family were spending their time together in isolation?

Judging by their various Instagram accounts, there was lots of singing, going through old family photos and cuddling small doggos.

 




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Lessons in lounging.

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Scenes from home ❤️ #stayhome

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Is there something on my head?

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Quarantine crew... working on a family photo project ❤️

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If this post brings up any issues for you, or if you just feel like you need to speak to someone, please call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service. It doesn’t matter where you live, they will take your call and, if need be, refer you to a service closer to home.

Feature Image: Instagram.


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