Demi Moore is getting to “The Substance” of the issue.
The 62-year-old recently revealed that early in her career, she developed an eating disorder and went through periods of extreme exercise after being told her body was a problem.
“There is a lot of torment I put myself through when I was younger,” Moore reflected in an interview with Elle published Thursday. “The perfect example is when I was told to lose weight multiple times. The producer pulled me aside. It was very embarrassing and humiliating. But that’s just one thing.”
The “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” actor shared that she internalized that feedback, which led to dangerous behaviors.
“How I internalized it and how it moved me to a place of such torture and harshness against myself, of real extreme behaviors,” Moore continued, “and that I placed almost all the value of who I was on my body being a certain way — that’s on me.”
In her film “The Substance,” Moore was able to take her power back.
“There was an incredibly liberating aspect to stepping into this really vulnerable, exposed place emotionally and physically,” she said. “The film gave me the opportunity to look at where my ego was kind of running the show, where I was giving up my power, and it pushed me to find a little bit more gentility and acceptance of myself as I am.”
When it came to a brightly lit close-up of the star’s bare butt in the film, Moore said: “It’s like, ‘Ugh. It bugs the s–t out of me.’”
But instead of changing the blocking or angle, the “Ghost” star “didn’t ask for any adjustments.”
“I knew it was in service of something that was more important than me,” Moore said of the shot. “It felt like any hardship, any exposure of my own insecurities, would be worth it if I was part of bringing forward the conversation.”
In the script, the icon saw the theme of “compare and despair” that people experience when judging themselves against others.
“Too often, we’re looking at the better us as somewhere outside of us,” Moore shared. “And the truth is, all of the answers, all of the resources, everything is within us.”
In fact, her daughter Scout Willis told her once that she decided to “quit wasting time focusing on all that I’m not, when I could be celebrating all that I am.”
“And that for me is exactly it,” Moore said. “While we’re so focused on what we’re not, we miss out on the beauty of all that we are. The thing is, I do have love for my body, but it’s more about appreciation — I can really appreciate all that my body does for me now, not just how it looks. And the more I appreciate the lines in the corner of my eyes.”
Reflecting on past jobs, the “G.I. Jane” icon admitted she didn’t always embrace her body.
“I changed my body multiple times through different roles, and I think I chose those roles, whether it was conscious or not, for the very opportunity to find some peace and self-love,” said Moore. “And when I did find that, it was only by really surrendering and letting go of what the outside was going to look like.”
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