Demi Moore's Most Controversial Moments

Whether it's for her past marriages with famous actors or her name being mentioned in the same sentences as Sean "Diddy" Combs, everyone is talking about American actress Demi Moore. But this buzz is nothing new — controversy has followed the "Ghost" star from the start of her Hollywood career. You might have already heard enough about how she can't escape plastic surgery rumors or all the speculation on the end of her engagement to Emilio Estevez. But in 2024, Moore's main point of controversy was an artistic one: Her leading role in "The Substance." The feminist body-horror film is about the fear of aging for women and was too grotesque for some. She also drew attention for her decision to do full-frontal nudity at the age of 61. 

Nudity scandals are nothing new to the actress, though. Besides having taken her clothes off for films in her youth — such as Striptease (1996), Blame It On Rio (1984), and About Last Night (1986) — showing her goods on magazine covers was what actually brought her controversy. A 1991 cover of Vanity Fair showing a naked, seven-month pregnant Moore was even parodied by famous comedian Leslie Nielsen to promote his film Naked Gun 33⅓. Some found the cover empowering for pregnant women, others though it was objectifying. Moore didn't seem to listen to the haters, though, as a year later, she posed naked for the cover of Vanity Fair yet again, and she did the same for Harper's Bazaar in 2019. 

A scandalous video of a 19-year-old Demi Moore in the '80s resurfaced in the 2010s. In the clip, she is seen kissing her "General Hospital" co-star Philip Tanzini on the lips at his 15th birthday party. The actress kisses him on three separate occasions in the five-minute video, and the way she leans in makes it seem like it's a little too passionate. Despite their age difference only being of four years — a small one compared to the 16-year gap between her and her ex-husband, the controversial Ashton Kutcher — the actress had already been a legal adult for over a year and was over a year into her chaotic first marriage with singer Freddy Moore. 

But there's more than just kisses in the video. "I love Philip and he's the only one I love. ... I love him dearly," Moore told the camera. "He's one of my most favorite people." "We're going to get married by the way," Philip replied. "Don't let her husband find out." Demi then laughed and said, "I can't wait. He really is truly terrific. He is, and I love him because he keeps me happy."

The video currently has almost 9 million views. Even though comments are turned off, people have been having heated disagreements about it for years on platforms such as Reddit. Some commenters brushed it off and called the kid lucky, while others called it "weird" and "disturbing."

Rapper and alleged sex trafficker Sean "Diddy" Combs was indicted in September 2024, and it seems like it's every celebrity's worst nightmare to be outed for attending one of his parties. The Bad Boy Records founder allegedly threw lavish gatherings where he forced people to participate in the so-called "freak offs." These were reportedly sexual encounters where the victims, which said to include 13-year-old children, were drugged, trapped in rooms, and raped mercilessly, all while being filmed on video. Multiple celebrities have been accused of participating in these freak offs, but most of the names have not yet been publicly disclosed. However, multiple are under the microscope due to their attendance to his parties, among them Demi Moore and her then-husband actor Ashton Kutcher.

The "That 70's Show" star and Combs had been pals for years, a friendship the actor now says he regrets. When asked in First We Feast's "Hot Ones" if he could share an anecdote about the parties, he had a suspicious answer, to say the least. "Wow, okay, I've got a lot I can't tell," he said before quickly changing the subject. But it was actor/rapper Jamie Foxx, a former close friend of Combs, who candidly recalled anecdotes about the alleged sex trafficker's parties and specifically mentioned seeing Demi Moore in them (via YouTube).

While attending a party is not a crime, Demi and other celebrities who allegedly visited them are under intense scrutiny by both the media and the public. Did they participate in the freak offs? If they didn't, did they know they were happening in the other room? Or even worse and potentially a felony, were they bystanders who did not alert authorities of the crimes being committed?

Demi Moore made headlines around the world in 2015 when a man died in her swimming pool during a party. According to Los Angeles County coroner Lieutenant Fred Corral, 21-year-old Edenilson Steven Valle had gone missing for 10 to 15 minutes during the event in the actress' Beverly Hills home. His friends eventually found his unresponsive body floating in the pool. Moore, however, had been out of the country at that time, and it had reportedly been her assistant who threw the party. The "Ghost" actress still made international headlines such as "Man Found Dead In Demi Moore's Swimming Pool," which might have given the impression that she had been there during the tragedy.

To top it off, Moore couldn't shake this tragedy off her name years later. In 2017, the victim's parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her, her assistant, one other individual, and Tree House Trust, the company that owned the property. Per Hello! magazine, the couple said there were "abundant dangerous conditions at the premises" that may have contributed to the death of Valle, who couldn't swim. They claimed there were no depth markers in her pool, rocks on its side, a "dangerously high" water temperature (101 degrees Fahrenheit), and alcohol at the party.

When the tragedy occurred, Moore responded with a heartfelt message, saying that her "heart goes out to this young man's family and friends" and that she was in shock (via People). However, once the parents sued her, allegedly inferring that the actress was partly responsible for Valle's death and asking for more than $25,000 in damages, she was a bit firmer with her words. In the court documents obtained by the outlet, she said that Valle was on her property "unlawfully" that night and that any judgment should take his responsibility into consideration.

Some of the biggest bombs Demi Moore dropped in her 2019 memoir "Inside Out" were revelations about the way her mother treated her. Being a daughter of two parents with alcohol use issues, her childhood was marked by conflict and taken away from her too soon. She was forced to grow up by doing things no child should do, from digging into her mother's mouth to save her from suicide to being taken to bars to be "noticed by men" by, again, her own mother. The most shocking bombshell, though, was about a middle-aged man who she noticed constantly showed up to her school when she was 15 years old. To her shock, she came home one day and found him inside her own apartment with the key. "How does it feel to be whored by your mother for 500 dollars?" Moore recalled the man asking her. 

"It was rape and a devastating betrayal," Moore wrote. "For decades, I didn't even think of it as rape," she went on. "I thought of it as something I caused, something I felt obligated to do because this man expected it from me — I had let him expect it from me. ... I was an easy mark for a predator." It was at this point in Moore's life that she decided to leave her home, drop out of school, and pursue a career in the entertainment industry. "I don't have anything to lose, I don't have anything" Moore recalled thinking back then, "so, why not?" She talked to ABC News about this harrowing event, and the video went viral, with 2.4 million views as of this writing and almost 3,000 comments.

Many speculate that the reason why the script of the film "The Substance" appealed to Demi Moore was because she can relate to her character, given her own experience with addiction. The movie follows a middle-aged woman taking an addictive black-market drug that creates a younger version of herself. Moore mainly use her memoir to explore her alcohol and cocaine use, which started in her teens. When she was in her early 20s, it got to the point that others had to intervene to save her, and it was director Joel Schumacher who helped her get sober. "I told her I was firing her," he told People in 1997. "When she came out [of rehab], we hired a counselor to live with Demi during filming." And it did work. "'St. Elmo's' will always be the movie that changed my life," Moore wrote in her memoir. If I hadn't gone to rehab to make that film, I really wonder if I'd still be alive,"

Nearly 20 years later, she relapsed. She was on a trip with her then-husband Ashton Kutcher, who she alleges encouraged her to "go in [alcoholism's] direction". "I don't know if alcoholism's a thing," she recalled Kutcher saying, "I think it's about moderation." She was then back on her sobriety journey, but for a shorter time now. A few years later, a 911 call from her home was released: The actress was having a seizure at a party as a consequence of using whippets (nitrous oxide) and synthetic marijuana. "Everyone was witnessing my body flailing," she said in an interview with ABC News. "My daughter was terrified she was going to see me die right in front of her," Moore wrote in her memoir. As of 2024, Moore has been sober for over 12 years.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).