Demi Moore was born in Roswell, New Mexico, but spent much of her childhood and teenage years in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. As a child, Moore had a difficult and unstable home life. Her biological father, Charles Harmon, an unemployed gambling addict, left her mother, Virginia, after a two-month marriage, and before Moore was born. As a result, Moore had the surname of her stepfather, Danny Guynes, on her birth certificate. Danny Guynes, who committed suicide in 1980, frequently changed jobs and made the family move a total of forty times. Moore's parents were also alcoholics, and often fought and beat each other. To make matters worse, operations on Moore's left eye during childhood required her to wear an eye patch.
Demi Moore's family settled in Los Angeles in 1976. When
Moore was sixteen, her then-friend, actress Nastassja Kinski,
persuaded her to drop out of Hollywood's Fairfax High School to
become an actress. After quitting school, Moore went to work as
a pin-up girl, modelled in Europe, and worked at a collection
agency.
In the early 1980s, Demi Moore posed for a series of soft-core
photographs featuring full frontal nudity. These photos went
unnoticed until after she became a star, eventually being
published in a German magazine and later in North America.
Moore's film debut was in the 1982 3-D science fiction/horror
film, Parasite, which was a hit on the drive-in circuit,
ultimately grossing $6 million. However, Moore was not widely
known until she played the part of Jackie Templeton on the ABC
soap opera, General Hospital, from 1982 to 1983.
Moore spent her General Hospital salaries on parties and drug
abuse. Her cocaine habit lasted more than three years until
1985, when director Joel Schumacher fired her from the set of
St. Elmo's Fire when she arrived on the set intoxicated. She
received withdrawal treatment and returned clean after a week.
(Incidentally, Moore's character in St. Elmo's Fire, Jules, was
also a cocaine addict.) Moore had to sign a contract stipulating
that she would stop her own alcohol and drug abuse, an agreement
that caused her life to turn around. In the 1980s, she appeared
in several youth oriented films, and was mentioned as being a
member of the "Brat Pack".
For a time during the 1990s, Moore was the highest paid actress
in Hollywood. She had a string of box office successes,
including Ghost, A Few Good Men, and Indecent Proposal, and was
the first actress to reach the $10 million salary mark. Moore's
suffered with starring vehicles The Scarlet Letter, The Juror,
Striptease, and G.I. Jane (a movie in which Moore shaved off all
her long hair on camera, leaving her head totally bald) failed
at the box office and garnered mixed reviews.
In August 1991, Moore appeared nude on the cover of Vanity Fair
magazine while seven months pregnant with her daughter Scout
LaRue, with enormous attendant publicity. The image was
endlessly parodied (including by Spy magazine, which placed her
then-husband Bruce
Willis's head on her body), but also spawned honest
imitators as other pregnant celebrities posed nude. Moore again
appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair in August 1992, wearing
only a body painted "suit".
After a break from her acting career, Moore returned to the
screen as a former member of Charlie's Angels in the 2003 film
Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle.
In August 1979, Moore began dating rock musician/songwriter
Freddy Moore, whose last name she adopted; the two married in
February 1980. The relationship lasted only 6 years (August
1979-August 1985). Moore began dating actor Emilio Estevez and
began divorce proceedings in 1985, and the two were engaged
until 1987. She also dated actor John Stamos during the time
when the two worked together on General Hospital.
On November 21, 1987, Moore married actor Bruce Willis, after a
highly publicized whirlwind romance (the two met in August of
that year). The couple has three daughters, Rumer Glenn (born
August 16, 1988), Scout LaRue (born July 20, 1991), and Tallulah
Belle (born February 3, 1994). Willis and Moore announced their
separation in June of 1998, and divorced in 2000.
Demi Moore also became a staple of tabloids due to her romantic
relationship with actor
Ashton Kutcher, who is sixteen years younger than she
is. Both would eventually spoof the public's fascination with
their age difference during a monologue on the March 19, 2005
episode of Saturday Night Live. Kutcher, who served as guest
host, brought Moore on stage while Moore was made up to appear
like an old woman who constantly babied Kutcher. Moore and
Kutcher were married on Saturday, September 24, 2005 in a
lavish, private ceremony conducted by a Kabbalah rabbi and
attended by about 100 close friends and family (Bruce Willis
included).
Demi Moore's primary residence is in Hailey, Idaho, near the
famous Sun Valley resort, although she spends much time in the
Los Angeles area with Kutcher. She is a practicing follower of
the Rabbi Philip Berg's Kabbalah Centre religion, and initiated
Kutcher into the faith.
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