'The Substance' star Demi Moore says 'insecurities about my body' led her to take on racy roles

Demi Moore admitted that some of her professional choices were motivated by her desire to overcome her personal insecurities.

During an interview with Variety, the 61-year-old actress reflected on why she decided to take on racy roles in movies including 1996's "Striptease" and pose nude for Vanity Fair magazine covers when she was at the height of her fame.

"One of the biggest misconceptions about me is that I loved my body," Moore said. 

She continued, "The reality is, so much of it was me calling in certain projects that would give me an opportunity to help me overcome insecurities about my body."

DEMI MOORE, 61, FELT LIKE THERE WASN’T A PLACE FOR HER IN HOLLYWOOD AFTER 40

"It was the same with the Vanity Fair covers; it was not that I loved it — it was about trying to free myself from the space of enslavement that I had put myself in," the "Ghost" star added.

The Emmy Award nominee explained that she was drawn to daring roles that broke gender stereotypes.

"The other truth is, things that are provocative — not in a sexual way, but things that provoke meaningful thought — have always fascinated me," Moore said.  

She continued, "Take ‘Striptease’: There was an interesting kind of judgment placed on a woman who worked as a dancer, but the idea was that this was a woman trying to take care of her child in the best way she could. With ‘G.I. Jane,’ I thought, 'if a woman is skilled enough and has the desire to [serve], why wouldn’t we want her there?"' 

"I didn’t understand why that door was closed. Many of my films had similar themes. ‘Indecent Proposal’ and ‘Disclosure’ are similar in a sense. We’d never seen a woman as the aggressor, as the abuser."

After rising to fame in the 1980s, Moore sparked controversy when she posed nude for a 1991 Vanity Fair cover titled "More Demi Moore" while the actress was seven months pregnant with her daughter Scout. She appeared naked again on the cover of Vanity Fair's August 1992 issue, which was titled "Demi's Birthday Suit." In 2019, Moore stripped down to pose completely nude on the cover of the October issue of Harper's Bazaar.

In the mid-90s, Moore was the highest-paid actress in Hollywood but the critical and commercial failure of "Striptease" and 1997's "G.I. Jane" marked the beginning of a sharp downturn in the actress's career.

While speaking with Variety, Moore named both films when asked about which of her movies didn't get the credit that they deserved.

"If I really look at 'G.I. Jane,' there was a faction of people out to shut that movie down before it even opened," she recalled. "I did 'Striptease' and ‘G.I. Jane’ back-to-back. If anything in this industry has ever been stacked against me, it was having those two films come out at the same time and becoming the highest-paid actress on top of that."

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"That moment was so powerful for me because it wasn’t just about me; it was about changing the playing field for all women," Moore added. "But because I was portraying a stripper, I betrayed women. And because I played a soldier, I betrayed men.

"The narrative quickly became ‘Well, she’s only getting paid that number because she’s playing a stripper.’ It hit me really hard. But at the same time, I understood that anybody who steps out first is going to take the hit. That goes for anybody challenging the status quo."

However, Moore told Variety that she would "definitely" make the same choices if she could get a do-over.

"They gave me so much," she said of "Striptease" and "G.I. Jane." "That’s ultimately all I have, my experience."

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Moore is starring in the new horror movie "The Substance," which was received with a 13-minute standing ovation when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

In the film, Moore plays a 50-year-old celebrity who uses an experimental drug to temporarily create a younger version of herself. Moore appears in several full-frontal nude scenes alongside her co-star Margaret Qualley, who plays the younger version of her character.

At the Cannes press conference for "The Substance," Moore credited Qualley with making her feel comfortable during filming.

"I had someone who was a great partner who I felt very safe with," Moore said, via Variety. "We obviously were quite close  — naked — and we also got a lot of levity in those moments at how absurd those certain situations were."

"But ultimately, it’s just about really directing your communication and mutual trust," she added.