How Demi Moore and Bruce Willis's Blended Family Came to Be
The two stars tied the knot in 1987 and split in 2000.
It's been 37 years since Demi Moore and Bruce Willis first fell into the whirlwind romance that changed Hollywood forever, and so much has happened since then. For one, the couple divorced in 2011, calling it quits after 13 years of marriage, three kids, and countless blockbuster films. But that wasn't the end of their partnership: on the contrary, and against all odds, the pair remained friends, and even attended each other's subsequent weddings. Later on, of course, came Willis's heartbreaking dementia diagnosis, and through it all, the blended family has continued to hold strong.
In an industry where divorce drama is commonplace and fame often takes precedent over family, Moore and Willis's long-lasting partnership is a breath of fresh air. Ahead, a look back at their relationship timeline, from their 1987 meet-cute to their present-day friendship.
July 1987: Bruce Willis and Demi Moore meet.
Though neither Moore nor Willis had a role in the film, both actors just so happened to attend the 1987 screening of Stakeout, which starred Moore's then-fiancé Emilio Estevez. Coincidentally, Moore broke off her engagement a few weeks later.
November 21, 1987: Bruce Willis and Demi Moore tie the knot.
It was the definition of a whirlwind romance: after their meet-cute, the pair quickly fell in love. Four months later, they spontaneously decided to tie the knot at the Golden Nugget Hotel in Las Vegas.
"We were moving to the gambling tables when Bruce said, 'I think we should get married,'" Moore later wrote in her memoir, Inside Out. "We'd been joking about it on the flight there, but suddenly it didn't seem like he was kidding."
August 16, 1988: Demi Moore gives birth to their first child, Rumer.
Less than a year after their impromptu wedding, Willis and Moore welcomed their first child. Rumer Willis was named after British fiction writer Rumer Godden. "Bruce helped pull this baby out of me," Moore said soon after giving birth. "He was there with his hands. ... He's as passionate and as excited and as driven with being a father as he is with anything else that he does."
April 19, 1991: Demi Moore and Bruce Willis co-star in 'Mortal Thoughts.'
Joining forces on set for the first time, Moore and Willis co-starred in the 1991 thriller Mortal Thoughts, which premiered at the box office on April 19.
"It was nice, considering that we have never actually worked together," Moore said in an interview with the Baltimore Sun. "It was really an ideal situation for him. It also gave him a chance to do a different kind of role. It was a great way for us to work together. It was good for us on a lot of levels."
July 20, 1991: Demi Moore and Bruce Willis welcome another daughter.
Three years after their first child was born, the couple added another daughter to their growing family: Scout. "Pregnancy agrees with me," Moore said in an interview for her now-legendary 1991 Vanity Fair cover story.
February 3, 1994: Demi Moore and Bruce Willis's third daughter is born
After the birth of their third child, Tallulah, the family was officially complete.
June 1998: The couple announces their split.
But the news of pending divorce didn't stop the family from spending time together; on the contrary, they continued to show up for each other's premieres and even went on a family vacation to Paris.
October 2000: The couple finalizes their divorce.
In a truly iconic move, Willis and Moore apparently settled their divorce in one day.
"I still love Demi," Willis later told Rolling Stone. "We're very close. We have three children whom we will continue to raise together, and we're probably as close now as we ever were. We realize we have a lifelong commitment to our kids. Our friendship continues. The institution has been set aside."
September 24, 2005: Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher tie the knot.
Five years later, Moore walked down the aisle once again, this time for her marriage to Ashton Kutcher. The pair tied the knot in a private ceremony at their home in Beverly Hills, and Willis was in attendance. Unfortunately the marriage did not last long, and the pair called it quits in 2011.
March 21, 2009: Bruce Willis and Emma Heming Willis get married.
After Willis showed up to her and Kutcher's wedding, Moore and Kutcher returned the favor by attending the nuptials of Willis and Emma Heming Willis in Parrot Cay, Turks & Caicos. The newlyweds soon welcomed two daughters: Mabel Ray, born in 2012, and Evelyn Penn, born in 2014.
“I went from ‘F— love’ to ‘Love is truly the answer,’” Bruce said in a joint interview with W Magazine that the couple did a few months after their wedding. “I spent the last 10 years single and, for the most part, unhappy. In a dark place. I never thought that being with someone else was the answer. I would say, ‘I’m alone, but I’m not lonely.’ But I was just kidding myself. Then I started hanging around Emma, and on a day-to-day basis my life became much happier.”
July 24, 2018: Bruce Willis gets roasted.
The roaster in question was, of course, his ex-wife Moore, who showed up at the end of his Comedy Central Roast of Bruce Willis special unannounced.
"For those of you that don't know me, I am Demi Moore," she said. "I was married to Bruce for the first three Die Hard movies, which makes sense, because the last two sucked."
She continued, "Bruce is super generous. When our daughter Rumer was a baby and it was his turn to change the diaper in the middle of the night, he would lean over and whisper to me, 'I'll give you a thousand dollars right now if you change that diaper.' "
September 24, 2019: Demi Moore opens up about her divorce.
In a new tell-all memoir titled Inside Out, Moore revealed that she was actually "very proud" of her divorce from Willis.
"I think Bruce was fearful at the beginning that I was going to make our split difficult," she wrote, "and that I would express my anger and whatever baggage that I had from our marriage by obstructing his access to the kids—that I'd turn to all of those ploys divorcing couples use as weapons. But I didn't, and neither did he."
She continued, "We managed to move the heart of our relationship, the heart of what created our family, into something new that gave the girls a loving, supportive environment with both parents."
April 2020: Bruce Willis and Demi Moore quarantine together.
Willis and Moore continued to be the model for healthy, friendly exes when they decided to quarantine together with their kids during the COVID-19 pandemic. The family hunkered down at their home in Idaho and shared snapshots of their quarantine lifestyle on Instagram. Later on, Moore recalled their time together with gratitude.
"It was really a blessing," the actress said on Naomi Campbell's Youtube series, No Filter With Naomi. "It's everything that's come forward has allowed us to reevaluate what's important and what needs attention that has been overlooked and neglected. It was amazing."
October 25, 2021: Rumer Willis gushes about her parents friendship post-divorce.
In an exclusive interview with People, Willis and Moore's eldest daughter Rumer spoke of how thankful she was that her parents never made her feel like she had to choose between them.
"I'm so grateful that we have all really strived to have really deep and meaningful and honest communication," she continued. "In any relationship—whether it's with a partner, whether it's with your family or your friends—that being honest and just really communicating well and having good tools for communication, I think, is so unbelievably important."
March 30, 2022: Bruce Willis is diagnosed with aphasia dementia.
In a heartbreaking announcement, Bruce Willis's family shared the news of his diagnosis, adding that he would be stepping away from his acting career to focus on his health. Aphasia dementia is a rare form of dementia that gets worse over time and impacts one's ability to communicate.
"To Bruce’s amazing supporters, as a family we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities," the caption read on Instagram. "As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him.
"This is a really challenging time for our family and we are so appreciative of your continued love, compassion and support. We are moving through this as a strong family unit, and wanted to bring his fans in because we know how much he means to you, as you do to him.
"As Bruce always says, 'Live it up' and together we plan to do just that."
The note was signed, with love, from "Emma, Demi, Rumer, Scout, Tallulah, Mabel, & Evelyn."
December 2022: Demi Moore and Bruce Willis celebrate Christmas together.
Joining forces once again, Moore celebrated Christmas alongside Bruce, Emma, and their kids. "We are FAMILY!!" Moore wrote on Instagram. "Getting into the holiday spirit."
February 16, 2023: Emma Heming Willis shares an update on Bruce Willis's diagnosis.
Almost exactly a year after sharing his initial diagnosis, Willis's wife took to Instagram to share that his condition had progressed, and that he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.
"Bruce always believed in using his voice in the world to help others, and to raise awareness about important issues both publicly and privately," read a statement signed by the "Ladies of Willis/Moore." "We know in our hearts that–if he could today—he would want to respond by bringing global attention and a connectedness with those who are also dealing with this debilitating disease and how it impacts so many individuals and their families."
September 13, 2024: Demi Moore opened up about how the family is coping on 'The Drew Barrymore Show.'
Speaking on Willis's dementia, Moore explained to host Drew Barrymore that she always tells her children to "meet [people] where they're at."
"You don’t hold on to who they were or what you want them to be, but who they are in this moment," she said. “And from that, there is such beauty and joy and loving and sweetness.”
Moore also shared that she visits Willis "every week" when she's in L.A.