Demi Moore’s ‘Old Insecurities Still Comes Back to Haunt Her’ Despite New TV Success

The January 23 premiere of Feud: Capote vs. The Swans at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City was a star-studded affair with A-listers like the show’s stars Naomi Watts, Diane Lane and Calista Flockhart. Demi Moore, who plays a socialite in the eight-part series, got into the spirit, dressed in a black-and-white Balmain gown featuring a sparkling swan motif. But according to creator Ryan Murphy, he had to strongarm her into taking the role.

“Demi is somebody I’ve had 10 meetings with over 20 years, begging her to play parts,” he told Town & Country. “She always comes into the room, and you tell her what the part is, and she’s like, ‘I don’t think I’m right for that.’ So this time around I was like, ‘I’ll tell you what it is, and you’re not allowed to say anything but yes.’”

The buzzworthy Hulu series is Demi’s most high-profile project in years and marks a bit of a comeback for the 61-year-old, who has had her share of setbacks. Once the highest-paid actress in Hollywood, the Ghost star has been through heartbreak and battled addiction. Now the first-time grandmother and mom to Rumer, 35, Scout, 32, and Tallulah, 29 (with ex-husband Bruce Willis, 68), has come out the other side. Calling aging “liberating,” she’s said, “I feel, in so many ways, more alive and present than ever.”

Prime Gig

Despite her Hollywood success, a source exclusively tells In Touch Demi has struggled with self-doubt about her acting abilities over the years. “Her old insecurities still come back to haunt her,” says the source, noting that the G.I. Jane star had become very picky about which roles she would take on. “She’s turned town a ton of scripts.” Yet Demi relished playing Ann Woodward, a socialite who killed her wealthy husband in 1955, in Swans, which delves into writer Truman Capote’s betrayal of a group of high-society women, explaining, “I appreciate that it’s a period piece in an intriguing world.”

Rough Patch

Her own world fell to pieces back in 2012, when she nearly died after smoking synthetic marijuana and inhaling nitrous oxide at a party. “Everything went blurry and I could see myself from above,” she recalled in her 2019 memoir, Inside Out. “It seemed like maybe this was my chance: I could leave the pain and shame of my life behind.” Demi had been sober for 20 years but relapsed after her painful 2011 split from Ashton Kutcher.

The relapse forced a wedge between her and her daughters that took years to repair. Says the insider, “She’s proud of how she was able to turn things around.” Now she’s the doting grandma to Rumer’s 9-month-old baby girl, Louetta. “It’s been a joy for Demi to watch Rumer become a mom,” says the source. “Demi really feels like her life just keeps getting better and better.” Don’t ask about dating, though. After splitting from Swiss chef Daniel Humm in 2022, “she’s not looking,” says the insider. “She doesn’t need a man to be fulfilled.”

Family Time

One shadow has been watching Bruce decline from frontotemporal dementia. Still close with the Die Hard star’s wife, Emma Hemming Willis, the insider says she has had to accept that the father of her girls no longer recognizes her. “He’s doing very well,” she recently told Good Morning America. “It’s important to just meet them where they’re at and not hold on to what isn’t.