Demi Moore’s notion of beauty is straightforward.
“Beauty just is.” You can look at a flower and see its beauty,” says the 62-year-old celebrity, who graces the cover of World’s Most Beautiful magazine. “On a human level, I find it honest and positive. Beauty stems from being at ease with yourself.”
It was a concept she addressed in her character as an elderly celebrity fitness teacher in the horror film The Substance. “I think there’s an aspect that we all have experienced, which is comparison and despair,” Moore adds in reference to the movie.
“And it’s not just about our appearance. It’s that tough, self-critical assessment. Everyone in the public spotlight faces increased scrutiny and criticism from others. I believe what made it so realistic was how brutally we can judge ourselves.”
Moore remembers discovering her potential as an actor when she received a casting call for General Hospital shortly before her 19th birthday. “It was like a real job where I was going to have an actual salary, meaning I didn’t have to have another job,” she tells me. “I could live by doing what I loved and wished I could do. But I never felt like I understood what I was doing. I didn’t actually study. I truly did attend the Fake It Till You Make It University. Everything for me was observing, listening, and learning from other performers.”
Despite her long-standing reputation as a beauty icon, the actress admits to having a difficult childhood. “None of us can escape that,” she laughs. “I had amblyopia, or wandering eye. When I was five years old, my eye condition worsened significantly and required corrective surgery. So I had a pretty embarrassing experience. And I recall seeing an image with this awful haircut when the winged style first appeared. I think I was 11 or 12 years old when I wore a denim jacket with a red and white fabric bow. The outfit was not appealing.”
Moore’s 2019 memoir detailed her troubled connection with her alcoholic mother. Now she tells PEOPLE that her experience influenced how she planned to raise her own three girls, Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah, whom she shares with ex Bruce Willis.
“For many, many years, that was truly about not wanting my kids to ever face certain things that I experienced,” she explains. “It created a real drive in me to want to look for opportunities to transform and become the best version of myself.”
Moore notes that she experienced “a pendulum swing where I didn’t want to burden my children; I never let them see me emotional.” “I realize how vital it is for our children to see us unhappy and see that we persevere and overcome adversity. It’s alright to feel furious and move on. There’s a lot I’ve learned and things I wish I’d found out sooner, but I also believe that everything happens in its time.”
Her marriage to Willis ended in 1998, although the two remain close as coparents. Moore claims she is pleased “that regardless of what the outside relationship has been, we have maintained being a family in various forms,” says Willis, who has frontotemporal dementia. “The foundation of making our children our priority has never wavered.”
Moore, who is now a “Yaya” to her first granddaughter, describes being present with all of her daughters for the birth of Rumer’s daughter Louetta in April 2023 as “really incredible.” Rumer was at Scout’s birth, and both Scout and Rumer were at Tallulah’s birth, she recalls. “Rumer had a home delivery, and there was a point when I thought, ‘Oh boy, I don’t know if she’ll make it,’ as if she had a different pain threshold than I have. It was a very remarkable and lovely moment to witness her embrace her strength and concentration.”
The actress’ current gratitude list includes “my family, including my four-legged family, my children, and all of the incredible, loving people in my life,” she says. “I feel really so lucky.”