This talented actress’ journey to fame and fortune was long and traumatic, but it is a testament to her ability to overcome a painful past.
Born Demi Gene Guynes on November 11, 1962, she was thrust into a chaotic life almost immediately, as her father, Charles Harmon Sr., an Air Force airman, abandoned her mother, Virginia King, after just two months of marriage, leaving Virginia to raise Demi on her own.
Shortly after Demi’s birth, her mother remarried Dan Guynes, a man who worked in newspaper advertising. Unfortunately, Dan’s frequent job changes led the family to relocate numerous times during Demi’s childhood.
Early years
Demi’s early years were marked by significant physical and emotional challenges, struggling with kidney disease and having to undergo two surgeries to correct a severe case of strabismus (a condition that caused her eyes to cross).
When Demi turned 13, her life was turned upside down once again when she discovered that the man she had believed to be her father, Dan Guynes, was actually her stepfather. Upon learning this, Demi moved in with her grandmother, distancing herself from her mother’s troubled home.
Career beginnings
After dropping out of Fairfax High School as a teenager, Demi ventured into modeling, signing with Elite Modeling Agency. However, her true calling was acting, which she pursued shortly after marrying musician Freddy Moore in 1981.
Demi adopted her husband’s surname and kept it throughout her career, even after their marriage ended five years later. Her early acting career included roles in General Hospital and films like Choices, No Small Affair, and Blame It on Rio. However, it wasn’t until 1985, when she starred in St. Elmo’s Fire, that she gained wider recognition.
The real turning point in her career came in 1990 when she starred in the romantic fantasy film Ghost. The movie became a massive hit, propelling Demi to A-list status in Hollywood. She continued to solidify her place in the industry with roles in A Few Good Men, Indecent Proposal, and Disclosure. In 1995, Demi briefly became the highest-paid actress in Hollywood for her role in Striptease, earning a record-breaking salary of $12 million, according to Vanity Fair.
In her personal life, Demi married actor Bruce Willis in 1987, and the couple became one of Hollywood’s most famous pairs. They had three daughters together — Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah — but their marriage ended in divorce in 2000. Despite the split, Demi and Bruce maintained a strong co-parenting relationship.
She later married actor Ashton Kutcher in 2005, though their relationship ended in 2013. During their marriage, Demi suffered a miscarriage six months into her pregnancy, a devastating loss she candidly shared in her memoir.
Painful childhood
Demi’s 2019 memoir Inside Out revealed the extent of her tumultuous childhood and personal struggles. Her parents battled alcoholism, and her home was often filled with chaos, infidelity, and instability.
One of the most traumatic events in her life occurred when Demi was just 12 years old. Her mother attempted suicide, and Demi was forced to save her by physically removing the pills from her mother’s mouth. “I remember using my fingers, the small fingers of a child, to dig the pills my mother had tried to swallow, out of her mouth,” Moore wrote in her book, per The Guardian.
Not long after finding out Dan Guynes was not her biological father, he left, making Demi responsible for her unstable mother, who would take Demi on outings to local bars and clubs, Y! Entertainment detailed.
Another painful memory from Demi’s youth involved a harrowing experience at the age of 15, when a man raped her and claimed that he’d paid her mother $500 for the act.
“It was rape,” the actress, now 61, said later during an interview on Good Morning America, “And a devastating betrayal, revealed by the man’s cruel question: how does it feel to be whored by your mother for $500?”
When asked if she believed the man’s claim, Demi replied: “I think, in my deep heart no. I don’t think it was a straightforward transaction. But she still did give him the access, and put me in harm’s way.”
Demi’s relationship with her mother remained strained for years, especially after her stepfather’s suicide in 1980 exacerbated her mother’s alcoholism. Demi ultimately cut ties with her mother in 1990, but they reconciled before her mother’s death from cancer in 1998.
It’s clear that Demi has overcome significant challenges in her life, but her harrowing memoir only highlights how far she has come in terms of healing and self-reflection.