Opinion: I have no sympathy for Demi Moore’s pre-Oscars pity party

Now that poor Demi Moore has been mentioned in the same sentence as ‘Oscar,’ will it be enough to heal her long-festering wounds?

At 62 years old, the ageless actress has been nominated by the Academy for best actress in a leading role in the body horror flick ‘The Substance.’

The movie revolves around Elisabeth Sparkle, a former famous figure who decides to use an illegal drug to maintain her youth and attractiveness. However, the drug fails to satisfy her desires.

Art intimating life?

For Demi, it appears, is still salty over being branded a ‘popcorn actress’ by some anonymous producer some three decades back.

One could argue that this reflects her successful yet superficial career during the 1990s, where she thrived in the spotlight.

Now that poor Demi Moore has been mentioned in the same sentence as ‘Oscar,’ will it be enough to heal her long-festering wounds?

Upon receiving the Best Actress Golden Globe for her role in ‘The Substance’ recently, Demi did not express gratitude in her speech but instead delivered a lament about her situation.

But, according to Demi, she didn’t enjoy it, not one bit. And as she collected her Best Actress Golden Globe award for ‘The Substance’ earlier this month, instead of delivering a grateful acceptance speech, she gave a woe-is-me diatribe that bore all the hallmarks of a pity party dressed up as something brave.

She explained that the dismissive kernel comment struck deep, leaving her feeling ‘corroded’ and not ‘enough’.

Though, one might be forgiven for thinking her estimated $200 million fortune might be ‘enough’. Never forget, this is a woman famously branded ‘Gimme Moore’ for her $15 million salary demands on the set of the tawdry trash fest ‘Striptease.’

Of course, the Brat Pack alumni sees it through a different lens; predictably joining the roll call of beleaguered A-listers lacing their otherwise good luck of winning the genetic and professional lottery with a darker dose of manufactured victimhood.

Demi is irked that she’s been ‘snubbed’ by all manner of award committees across a 45-year career.

Indeed, where was the recognition for her role as FBI secretary turned stripper, Erin Grant, gyrating topless in ‘Striptease’? Where were the plaudits for the generic, fleshy erotic thrillers, ‘Indecent Proposal’ and ‘Disclosure’?

Moreover, just how did faux feminist flop, ‘GI Jane’ – a fictional portrayal of the first women to undergo Navy SEAL-style training – all braless exercising and butt close-ups fail to make the Academy’s shortlist?

Though in fairness, Demi’s Golden Globe for ‘The Substance’ is not her first ‘award.’ She is a deserved recipient of four Golden Raspberries (the Razzies) ‘honoring’ the worst cinematic failures (including Worst Actress in GI Jane).

And as one half of the original Hollywood power couple with ex-husband Bruce Willis, Peak Demi had the clout and ample opportunity to pivot from ‘popcorn’ territory occasionally.

Never forget, this is a woman famously branded ‘Gimme Moore’ for her $15 million salary demands on the set of the tawdry trash fest ‘Striptease.’ (Demi is pictured in Striptease).

Let’s not forget that her career during the 2000s was defined by a ‘Charlie’s Angels’ cameo and the tabloid-friendly hook-up with toyboy Ashton Kutcher (pictured).

What about a stint on Broadway? Or a turn in artier, independent projects to showcase her apparently overlooked thespian credentials and prove the doubters wrong? Perhaps it just wasn’t as tempting as her usual big studio payday.

Let’s not forget that her career during the 2000s was defined by a ‘Charlie’s Angels’ cameo and the tabloid-friendly hook-up with toyboy Ashton Kutcher.

To give Demi her due, she did bravely step up when Willis was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in 2023 following an initial diagnosis of aphasia one year earlier. But you might have thought that facing down the realities of such a life-altering illness would deliver to Demi a heavy dose of perspective, not fuelling her self-pity.

It’s tough to regard Moore’s moaning as anything but the definition of First World problems.

More to the point, where is the real trauma in topping Tinseltown’s most gilded perch as box office queen anyway?

Speaking last year at a press conference for the series, ‘Feud: Capote vs The Swans,’ in which she played Ann Woodward, a New York socialite suspected of killing her husband, Demi said, ‘I think that there was a period of time where I really wasn’t sure this is what I should be doing. Was I good enough? Is this really where I belonged?’

Well, now Moore is ready for her close-up again and is basking in the renewed relevance.

The adulation was in overdrive during a Screen Actors Guild event last November in which Moore trawled through her filmography and was celebrated by the host who descended into fangirling froth as Moore rambled on about ‘sitting in a place of gratitude, awe and joy.’ (Easy to say when boasting the taut results of a rumored $330,000 in cosmetic surgery.)

At 62 years old, the ageless actress has been nominated by the Academy for best actress in a leading role in the body horror flick ‘The Substance.’

It’s tough to regard Moore’s moaning as anything but the definition of First World problems. (She is pictured in Charlie’s Angels in 2003). 

Indeed, for Moore, success in ‘The Substance’ is following a neat script in an industry that loves a good comeback.

A satire on female aging and impossible beauty standards has poignancy with a 62-year-old sex siren at the helm. It’s daring and original and perhaps deserving of the 13-minute ovation it received at the Cannes Film Festival in May and the recognition it has now garnered from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The trouble is, it’s a little too easy for the actress and her fans to believe the studio machine took too long to appreciate her abilities. Perhaps, it was her time in the ‘popcorn’ wilderness that made her hungrier and in turn a better actress.

Just a thought – though for Delusional Demi one that probably smacks of an indecent proposal.