Demi Moore has revealed she was raped at 15 by a man who paid her alcoholic mother $500.
Moore, 56, spoke about the harrowing incident to Diane Sawyer on “Good Morning America” while discussing her forthcoming memoir, “Inside Out.”
“It was rape and a devastating betrayal revealed by the man’s cruel question, ‘How does it feel to be whored by your mother for $500?'” wrote Moore, 56.
While the events that transpired that night were scary, Moore does not believe her mother intentionally pimped her out.
“I think in my deep heart, no,” she told Sawyer after the journalist asked if she felt her mother “sold” her to her rapist. “I don’t think it was a straightforward transaction, but she still did give him the access and put me in harm’s way.”
In Moore’s book, she writes about leaving home with no money and no acting experience to pursue her career in Hollywood. She said her confidence at the time came from her idea that she didn’t have anything to lose.
She would eventually get her big break in “General Hospital” at just 19. The overwhelmed young star soon spiraled out of control, first turning to alcohol and then cocaine. She was later cast in the 1985 film “St. Elmo’s Fire,” where she played a party girl, but was asked to attend rehab. She committed to sobriety and stayed with it until her 40s.
She has now been sober for 20 years.
Moore’s memoir, which has helped the star with self-love and acceptance, also tackles her past with ex Ashton Kutcher, as well as her struggle with drugs.
“Inside Out” will be released Tuesday.