Demi Moore Says Her Drug Addiction & Marriage Problems Came From the Same Place
With the publication of her memoir Inside Out, actress Demi Moore has turned a new corner as a star. Now, it’s all out on the table: her years of struggle with addiction, her marriages to Freddy Moore, Bruce Willis, and Ashton Kutcher, and her career transformation from her early Brat Pack days to dystopian TV show Brave New World. Chatting with SiriusXM’s Jess Cagle on his eponymous radio show, Moore reflected on two periods of hardship — struggling with drug addiction while starring in early hits like St. Elmo’s Fire, and later trying to repair a long-standing marriage. Ultimately, Moore explained, the issues she faced were coming from the same place.
Cagle first brought up St. Elmo’s Fire, mentioning that director Joel Schumacher had played a key role in helping both Cagle and Moore find their way to sobriety. “I will forever be so grateful to him,” Moore says, calling it a case of “somebody seeing more of you than you see of yourself.”
More from SheKnows
As Moore explains, Schumacher was able to tap into her passion for the work, inspiring her to sobriety in a way that concerns about her own health and safety hadn’t. “Work was the only thing that meant anything to me,” the actress shared. “I didn’t have any value, I wasn’t enough to have kept myself sober. But doing the film was.”
About Last Night… give or take 34 years 🤍 #TBT
A post shared by Demi Moore (@demimoore) on Jul 2, 2020 at 9:56am PDT
As Moore went on to face multiple strained marriages, she became an expert in the art of fighting for her relationship — but realized that her continual belief that she “didn’t have any value” was still holding her back.
“I think it’s a process of learning to love yourself. Accepting who you are, just as you are,” she told Cagle. “For me, I had changed myself so many times over and over to fit what I thought somebody else wanted…we’re kind of conditioned to work towards being desired, but we’re not supposed to have desires of our own.”
A post shared by Demi Moore (@demimoore) on May 22, 2020 at 6:51am PDT
While Moore’s had to do a lot of self-work to get to a place of loving herself, she doesn’t regret any time she spent with her exes. “Working through a relationship is really commendable in our disposable times,” she remarks — and for a woman who’s been through three high-profile marriages that were picked apart in the press, we’re so impressed that she’s never wavered in her commitment to fighting for what they had.
Every time we hear Demi Moore speak these days, we’re wowed anew with her strength and resilience. Moore’s been working on herself for a long, long time, and she’s only getting stronger.
Related video: Looking back at ‘St. Elmo’s Fire’ as it turns 35
Click here to see all the celebrities who have struggled with drug or alcohol addiction.
Launch Gallery: All the Celebrities Who Have Struggled With Drug or Alcohol Addiction
Best of SheKnows
Sign up for SheKnows' Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
