Body shamed as a teen, her mother's alcoholism, and a devastating diagnosis — Rumer Willis grew up in the spotlight, but there's a lot you might not know about her.
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00:00body shamed as a teen, her mother's alcoholism, and a devastating diagnosis. Rumor Willis
00:05grew up in the spotlight, but there's a lot you might not know about her.
00:10Even at a young age, Willis was all too familiar with the intense scrutiny that comes with
00:14being famous, especially as it related to her physical appearance. During a candid interview
00:19with HuffPost, Willis opened up about how she was often publicly bullied by Perez Hilton
00:24and many other celebrity and entertainment bloggers. She told the publication,
00:28"'I had a potato head. My face. They said I had a huge jaw. They said, like, it was
00:33a butter face, which is like everything is good but her face. And when you're 14, 15,
00:37like, I didn't really understand having value in myself.'"
00:40Willis went on to compete in and win Dancing with the Stars in 2015, but the bullying did
00:46not subside. Not even close! Eventually, all of the harassment prompted her to compose
00:51an open letter for Glamour. According to Willis, during her time competing on the show, she
00:55had to block at least 10 people a day on her social media accounts for sending her
01:00nasty messages.
01:01"...Why can't we just lift each other up and help celebrate our strengths?"
01:05Willis has also been very open and forthcoming about her unhealthy relationship with alcohol
01:09and subsequent struggle with sobriety. She wrote on Instagram in July 2017,
01:13"...I wanted to share this because I'm really proud of myself. Yesterday, I celebrated six
01:18months of sobriety. It's not something I planned on but after the long journey of getting here,
01:22I can honestly say I have never been more proud of myself in my entire life."
01:27Months later, however, she explained to People magazine that the decision to be sober wasn't
01:31one she made out of necessity but rather because she wanted to participate in Sober January.
01:36It wasn't until she finished the month that she realized how much better off she was by
01:40abstaining from alcohol. Unfortunately, however, many in the media took her social media revelation
01:45and ran with it, accusing the young celebrity of hiding a severe addiction.
01:50She told the publication,
01:51"...I was like, I've kept it hidden because there's nothing to hide."
01:54According to Willis, her relationship with alcohol didn't actually become unhealthy until
01:59after she witnessed her mother, Demi Moore, relapse. She said,
02:02"...When I stopped talking to my mom, then it kind of kicked up into high gear.
02:06I literally started getting anxiety attacks about how bad I was gonna feel the next day,
02:10so I would be drunk and start hyperventilating and freak out. My friend even called 911 once."
02:15Thankfully, Willis is now seven years sober and counting.
02:19Unfortunately, Willis' relationship with her superstar mother hasn't been without trouble.
02:23Rumer has also been very candid and honest about how Moore's addiction
02:27struggles had a major impact on her.
02:29"...So much of that time, especially with Ashton,
02:31I was so angry because I felt like something that was mine had been taken away."
02:36Tragically, it was Rumer who was with her mother in 2012, the night Demi relapsed and
02:40was rushed to the hospital after having a seizure brought on from using nitrous and
02:44synthetic cannabis.
02:45"...We need an ambulance here as soon as possible, please."
02:48Sadly, following Demi's relapse, she and her mother remained estranged from each other for
02:52many years. Rumer told The New York Times in 2019,
02:55"...We grow up thinking that our parents are these immovable gods of Olympus.
02:59Obviously, as we grow older, we start to realize how much our parents are just people."
03:03These days, however, Rumer and Demi are closer than close.
03:06In May 2024, Rumer took to Instagram to wish Demi a happy Mother's Day,
03:10writing in her Instagram story,
03:12"...Man, I love you, mama Demi Moore. I know I'm a day late, but you're worth the wait."
03:16In March 2022, Rumer, along with the rest of the Willis and Moore blended family,
03:21revealed in a somber statement that their patriarch, Bruce Willis,
03:24had been diagnosed with aphasia, a brain disorder that was impacting his cognitive abilities.
03:29They explained that as a result of the diagnosis, Bruce would be stepping away from his acting
03:33career. Then, in February 2023, the Willis family provided an update regarding Bruce's condition,
03:39revealing that he had been diagnosed with dementia and was struggling to communicate.
03:43Rumer revealed in an Instagram post,
03:45"...Since we announced Bruce's diagnosis of aphasia in spring 2022, Bruce's condition
03:50has progressed and we now have a more specific diagnosis, frontotemporal dementia, known as FTD."
03:56Unfortunately, challenges with communication are just one symptom of the disease Bruce faces.
04:01In May 2024, Rumer provided another update during an appearance on The Today Show.
04:06"...How is he doing?"
04:08"...He's so good."
04:08Rumer also noted that he was relishing his role as that of grandfather to her baby girl,
04:13Louetta, born in April 2023. She went on,
04:17"...I actually got to see him right before I came out and Lou was just starting to walk
04:20a little bit and she was walking over to him and it was so sweet."