Fighting SPIRIT

Demi Moore has been to hell and back but she's feeling stronger and more at peace than ever at 60

- JAIME HARKIN

In mid-February, Demi Moore took to Instagram to update fans on her ex-husband Bruce Willis, who was previously diagnosed with aphasia. "Bruce's condition has progressed and we now have a more specific diagnosis: frontotemporal dementia," wrote the actress alongside a photo of the Die Hard star smiling on a beach. "We now have a deeper understanding of what he is experiencing."

It hasn’t been easy for Moore to watch Willis’ health decline. She and the 67-year-old actor have been on great terms since their 2000 divorce after 13 years of marriage (they share daughters Rumer, 34, Scout, 31, and Tallulah, 29). But in typical Moore fashion, she’s rising to the occasion and focusing on the positive. “Demi is very proud of the life she’s created for herself,” says a source of the A-lister, who’s had her fair share of public struggles, including addiction issues and three failed marriages. “She’s very grateful to have such a warm and loving group of friends and family members surrounding her and supporting her.”

ROUGH ROAD

She didn’t always feel so grounded. In her bestselling 2019 memoir, Inside Out, Moore opened up about her painful childhood, which was marred by her abusive and suicidal mother and a traumatizing sexual assault at age 15. In 1984 — just as her film career began to take off — she battled with substance abuse. By 1990, she was Hollywood’s highest-paid actress — but “for Demi, writing Inside Out was basically the equivalent of lifting a huge weight off her shoulders,” says the source. “She’s been a different person since the book was released.”