| Demi's real father, Charles Harmon, left her
mother in 1962 before Demi was born, after a two-month marriage. Virginia
married Danny Guynes, a newspaper ad salesman, who frequently changed jobs
and caused the family to move over 30 times. Demi grew up dealing with
poverty, alcoholism, domestic abuse, divorce, and her stepfather's suicide
when she was 18.
With influence from Nastassja Kinski, her neighbor
in the same building, she decided to become an actress while in high school.
When Demi was 16, she quit school to work at a debt collection agency and
to do some modeling in Europe. At age 18, she married the English rock
musician, Freddy
Moore. This marriage lasted for four years.
In 1982, she became a regular actress on the
TV show General Hospital. In the 1985 movie, St. Elmo's Fire, in order
to play coke addict, Jules, she had to sign a contract stipulating that
she would stop her own alcohol and drug abuse, an agreement that caused
her to turn her life around. For the next three years, she struggled with
drug and alcohol problems until director Joel Schumacher threatened to
fire her
from the set of St. Elmo's Fire. After drug rehabiliation for two weeks,
she returned to work, and continued to stay sober.
Demi met Bruce Willis in August 1987 after
ending a three-year engagement to Emilio Estevez. Bruce and Demi were married
on November 21, 1987 by singer, Little Richard. She has formed her own
production companies, Rufglen and then Moving Pictures (in partnership
with
Suzanne and Jennifer Todd.)
With determination and a skill for publicity
stunts, she has achieved fame and fortune. Since the huge successes
of Ghost in 1990, Indecent Proposal in 1993, Disclosure in 1994, The Juror
in 1995, and Striptease in 1996. Her current asking price is
$12.5 million per film. |
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