During her Golden Globes acceptance speech for her role in The Substance, Demi Moore said prior to making the film she had hit a "low point." In short, she thought her best days were behind her.
At 62, Demi's life flipped when, "This magical, bold, courageous, out of the box, absolutely bonkers script come across my desk and the universe told me, 'You're not done,'."
She went on to say that before this accolade she'd been made to feel she was only a 'popcorn actress' - sweet, irresistible even, but devoid of any real, irony alert, substance. But now, in her sixth decade, she is being recognised for her talent.
© Penske Media via Getty ImagesIn an act of sisterly support Jennifer Aniston, 55, re-shared an Instagram post from TV writer @gennefer on her Stories, saying: "There is nothing sexier or more provocative than a woman realising her worth and turning the scars of lived experience into a lightning bolt of sheer, unstoppable radiance."
And that was what was so powerful about Demi's speech, and her film. They expose a truth - that as a society we have been guilty of side-lining women post-forty. Making them feel that they have nothing valuable to contribute. But it finally feels like the tide is turning.
I read Demi's autobiography, Inside Out, a few years ago. Not the usual puff, it's brilliantly ghostwritten by Ariel Levy and is an honest account of an extraordinary and challenging life. From fishing pills out of her mother’s mouth post her suicide attempt, to the shame she felt at doing threesomes with her younger husband Ashton Kutcher.
© Getty ImagesDemi talked with refreshing honesty about eating disorders and the pressure of the beauty standards in Hollywood. For most of my teens and twenties Demi Moore was the beauty standard. Jules in St Elmo's Fire, Molly in Ghost and Diana in Indecent Proposal. We all wanted to look like her. But the lengths she had to go to get there were extreme.
DISCOVER: Demi Moore's 'ridiculous' fitness regime caused her to quit exercise
When filming for Indecent Proposal (when she was still breastfeeding her daughter) she would get up in the dark and cycle to the movie set, sometimes covering up to sixty miles a day. "I placed almost all the value of who I was on my body being a certain way," she said.
© Getty ImagesIn her Golden Globes speech, Demi said: "In those moments when we don't think we're smart enough or pretty enough or skinny enough or successful enough or basically just not enough — I had a woman say to me, 'Just know, you will never be enough', but you can know the value of your worth if you just put down the measuring stick."
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The irony is, Demi's looks still defy her age. She has the skin, hair and body of someone twenty years younger. In all honesty, I feel she is still using the measuring stick but at least now is recognising the damage it has done. Maybe the next step for Hollywood is to show 62-year-old women as 99.9 per cent of them look on screen? Wrinkles and all.
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