I know what you’re thinking; there are few things we can be sure of in our world: grass is green, the sky is blue, and Demi Moore is one beautiful woman. Yes, but sometimes it bears repeating.
Moore reminded us herself by posting a video of her spending time with her family on her Instagram earlier this week. Taking advantage of a recent TikTok trend, Moore shared a perfectly edited (by Feud actor Patrick Hilgart no less, who Moore tagged in her caption) video of her and her family running out of what looks to be a hotel room onto a sunny beach. No disrespect to the editing, of course, but we were more blown away by how great Moore looks in her bikini.
Since she first came on the scene as a member of the Brat Pack in the 1980s, Moore was recognized as a beautiful actress, sometimes to her detriment. She became the highest-paid woman in Hollywood when she received a salary of $12.5 million for her role in the 1996 film Striptease, but the same film almost derailed her career. “My salary for Striptease became something that I got punished for as opposed to celebrated,” Moore told Variety in a 2020 interview.
Early attempts at more “serious” roles, like G.I. Jane and Passion of Mind, were either met with harsh criticism or over-shadowed by her roles as more conventionally “sexy” characters. (Take this 2003 Rolling Stone review of Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle for example; Peter Travers writes, “Moore, 40, looks great in a bikini and doesn’t even try to act.” )
Seeing Moore looking objectively amazing in this bikini some 20 years after Full Throttle is simultaneously empowering but infuriating. A part of me is happy to see a woman looking so happy, fit, and honestly, youthful at an age women have historically been told is past their “prime.” It’s a similar feeling I get when I see Anne Hathaway, a woman who is 20 years Moore’s junior, being celebrated for embracing her sexuality in films like The Idea of You in her 40s, an age we don’t typically see actresses cast in these type of roles.
But another part of me is frustrated this discourse is even a thing. It shouldn’t be shocking to see women in their 40s, 60s, and beyond enjoying their lives and being hot. Heck, it shouldn’t be news to see women enjoying their lives and not being hot.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely nice to be recognized for the work you put in to look good, whatever that looks like to you. Moore looks undeniably great, but she has a lot of other stuff going for her, like her activist work, her acting career, and her dedication to her loved ones. Those things are just as valuable, if not more so, than her enviable muscle tone.