Demi Moore Opens Up About Past Self-Destructive Actions & Overcoming Them

Demi Moore has some important life lessons to impart to anyone who is struggling to make it through their daily lives. On Saturday, Oct. 29, Moore was honored with the Woman of the Year Award by the Peggy Albrecht Friendly House, a residential program for women recovering from substance and alcohol abuse. During her accompanying speech, Moore spoke candidly about her own “self-destructive path” and how she has learned to overcome it.

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“I feel like there’s a defining moment in our lives that shape who we are and the direction we go and early in my career, I was spiraling down a path of real self-destruction and no matter what successes I had, I just never felt good enough,” Moore said during her speech, per E! News. “I had absolutely no value for myself and this self-destructive path, it very quickly brought me to a real crisis point and it wasn’t clear at the time the reason. Maybe it was divine intervention.” 

She also said that two people who barely knew her intervened when she needed it most. 

“Life is certainly not a straight line and I think everyone here has dealt with not feeling good enough at some point in their lives,” Moore added. “I know in a moment of great struggle for me, I’ve reached out to a wise teacher and expressed my fear that I wasn’t good enough and she said, ‘You will never be good enough, but you can know the value of your worth. Put down the measuring stick.’ So today, I put down the measuring stick and I thank you for this beautiful acknowledgment and the opportunity to know the value of my worth.”

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So grateful for the love and support of friends and family even my furry family! Ru @rumerwillis Scouter @scoutlaruewillis and my Boo @buuski seeing your beautiful smiling faces-you are what makes my heart worth beating. Everything I do is for you! Thank you my dear friend Amanda @amandadecadenet for presenting me with this beautiful honor and bringing your strength beauty depth intelligence and deep loving. Having you there was like being wrapped in a warm blanket of love and safety. It was an honor to be recognized by @FriendlyHouseLA alongside @angelamanueldavis @wzyofweho #BarbaraBachStarkey and #MarjorieBackWalsh With the gorgeous @ambervalletta as our host Amber you are a pillar of calm grace and ease that reminded me to breathe thank you! my anchors for always being there @ericbuterbaugh @jwuntitled Girls love @moonfrye @spagettyos_ @lennz13 @danielavillegasjewelry @atlantabean @trinavenit #sathari #danaharris #michellealves Thank you to all my friends who supported me and @friendlyhousela but who could not be there yesterday. Your support is what allows Friendly House to do the amazing work they do helping women find recovery and reclaim their lives with dignity!! This Instagram business is still new for me and yesterday’s unspeakable act in Pittsburgh left me gutted and frozen, completely unable to even think about sharing my gratitude for such a beautiful event. I will figure this out but please excuse me in advanced for any IG faux pax of insensitivity it certainly is not intended. My heart goes out to the families. I believe in the power of LOVE! These are the moments we need to inject greater loving compassion acceptance and understanding. #LoveWins

A post shared by Demi Moore (@moore2d) on Oct 28, 2018 at 11:20am PDT

On her newly-created official Instagram account, Moore shared a photo of herself with her dogs and spelled out her extensive thanks to her support system and the Friendly House in the photo caption. She wrote, in part, “Thank you to all my friends who supported me and @friendlyhousela but who could not be there yesterday. Your support is what allows Friendly House to do the amazing work they do helping women find recovery and reclaim their lives with dignity!!”

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Moore’s history with drug and alcohol abuse has long been public record. In a 1996 People cover story, the outlet reported that after Moore was cast in St. Elmo’s Fire in 1984 and director Joel Schumacher discovered the extent of her usage, he threatened to fire her. Moore went to rehab and returned to the set of the film two weeks later, clean and sober.

In 2012, she sought treatment for her overall health, with fatigue caused by high stress at the top of the list for symptoms, per E! News. This was two months after she ended her marriage with Ashton Kutcher in what was allegedly a messy split, and right after a 911 call that landed her in an overnight hospital stay went viral.