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Demi Moore (born Demetria Gene Guynes on November 11,
1962) is an American actress. She became well-known after a string of 1980s
teen-oriented movies, and matured into one of the best-known actresses in 1990s
Hollywood. Moore is also known for her marriages to songwriter Freddy Moore and
actors Bruce Willis and Ashton Kutcher
Biography
Early life
Moore was born in Roswell, New Mexico, but spent much of her childhood and
teenage years in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. As a child, she 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, 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 eyepatch.
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.
Career
Moore with Patrick Swayze in Ghost (1990)In the early 1980s, Moore posed for a
series of soft-core photographs featuring full frontal nudity. These photos went
unnoticed until after she became a star, and were eventually 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 cease her
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".
Moore in Vanity Fair (September, 1991)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. Among other films for which Moore
was considered were Basic Instinct, Batman & Robin, Flashdance, Runaway Bride,
and While You Were Sleeping. Moore's reputation suffered when the 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.
Personal life
Ashton and Demi on SNL poking fun at their age differenceIn 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
procedings 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.
Moore also became a staple of tabloids due to her romantic relationship with
actor Ashton Kutcher, who is sixteen years her junior. 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).
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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