Tragic Details About Demi Moore And Bruce Willis' Daughter Tallulah

This article discusses an eating disorder, mental health, suicide, and addiction.

Tallulah Willis undoubtedly had a privileged upbringing, but she’s living proof that some things in life can’t be bought. Demi Moore and Bruce Willis’ youngest daughter lives with several medical conditions. Most of them are mental health illnesses she has struggled with since she was a teenager. Throughout the years, Tallulah has spoken candidly about her efforts to treat anorexia, addiction, depression, and skin-picking disorder. Beyond that, she has also been diagnosed with ADHD and borderline personality disorder.

It wasn’t until she was close to 30 that she finally learned she was on the autism spectrum, a late diagnosis that prevented her from accessing the proper tools to deal with the neurodevelopmental disorder. It was when Tallulah struggled with all that she received some of the hardest news of her life. In March 2022, the family announced that Bruce had been diagnosed with dementia. Tallulah noticed early signs of her dad’s diagnosis, but she read them the wrong way.

The family attributed Bruce’s unresponsiveness to hearing loss related to years of filming action movies. “That unresponsiveness broadened, and I sometimes took it personally … I thought he’d lost interest in me,” she wrote in a May 2023 Vogue essay. In response, she distanced herself and went into denial. “The truth is that I was too sick myself to handle it,” she wrote. In addition to her series of diagnoses (and missed diagnosis), Tallulah faced the grief of watching her beloved father’s mind dwindle. But she’s determined to fight.

Judging from Tallulah Willis’ flawless complexion in photos, it may be hard to believe she ever struggled with a skin-related disorder. But the road to clear skin has been long. Willis suffers from dermatillomania, a condition characterized by the obsessive scratching of the skin. Also known as skin picking disorder or excoriation disorder, the behavior can cause painful lesions and even scarring.

Tallulah sought help to improve the appearance of her skin in 2021, a journey she documented on Instagram. “Updates from an antsy handed chronic picker! we have *ascended* to peak alien dewy supple goals,” she captioned a carousel that featured her progress. That September, she did a live video while she was getting treatment in an effort to raise awareness. The nurse practitioner, Jennifer Hollander, explained that a lot of her patients are unaware that what they do is a mental health condition.

This is why awareness matters. “I’m actually seeing more and more patients, especially at a time where there is more stress,” Hollander said, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic. Months earlier, she had opened up about her decision to seek help, explaining that she was trying to be kind to herself. “I won’t say I am disappointed in myself because I’m just having a human experience,” she wrote. In August 2024, Willis shared a throwback photo from 2021 to keep the conversation alive. “Just out here trying to shout to the rooftops that picking HAPPENS!!!” she captioned the Instagram post.

Tallulah Willis has struggled with her mental health well beyond her skin-picking disorder. In 2022, she was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, a mental illness that affects the patient’s ability to regulate their emotions, she revealed in her Vogue essay. Up to that point, she had already spent more than a decade managing another mental disorder. Throughout her adolescence, Tallulah struggled with depression. It became so severe in her early adult years that she had to go into care.

Tallulah entered a rehab center in 2019 when she was 25. “It was a largely therapeutic experience; for the first time, I grieved the 15-year-old misfit me, the ugly duckling,” she wrote. At the facility, she received yet another diagnosis. “I was also diagnosed with ADHD and started on stimulant medication, which was transformative. I felt smart for the first time,” she shared. She was finally getting the help she needed, but it could have been too late.

In the months that preceded her rehab stint, Tallulah had struggled with suicidal thoughts. To mark World Mental Health Day in October 2019, she shared a silly video of herself being playful by the pool to illustrate that one’s mental condition is often not reflected on the outside. “When this video was filmed I was 3 months into the deepest suicidal hole I had ever been in. We are not what we show,” she captioned the Instagram post. She originally posted the video in December 2018.

Tallulah Willis developed an eating disorder in 2019 when she was 25. Her anorexia nervosa, she believes, was the by-product of medication she had started taking that year to manage her ADHD. The medication helped, but they had an unintended effect. “I also started to enjoy the appetite-​suppressant side effect of the meds,” she detailed in the Vogue essay. As she watched the pounds drop, Tallulah saw a more feminine version of herself emerge. “I saw a way to banish the awkward adolescent in favor of a flighty little pixie,” she penned.

Tallulah had previously opened up about her body dysmorphic disorder, disclosing how she resented looking like Bruce Willis and not Demi Moore. “I believed wholly my ‘masculine’ face was the sole reason for my unlovability,” she captioned a 2021 Instagram post. But at that point, she still seemed to be in denial. After raising public concern when she posted a selfie in late 2020, Tallulah downplayed it by contending she loses weight when under stress. Tallulah has since received the help she needed. 

In 2022, she entered a rehab facility in Texas. But recovery hasn’t been easy. Tallulah often receives fat-shaming messages when she posts photos of her healthy figure. “This happens to a healing person in recovery, who has been honest about how very sick she was/is and is working daily to find safety and home within her skin,” she captioned an Instagram post featuring a screenshot of a DM. 

Tallulah Willis’ struggles with self-image and self-esteem started when she was 11. That’s when she started to get a better understanding of how famous her parents were and what that meant for her. She was the daughter of two Hollywood icons and sex symbols. People had expectations of her. She realized that when she was 13 and saw a photo of herself online. “I broke down in tears as I started to read the comments. I thought, I am a hideous, disgusting-looking person,” she wrote in a 2015 Teen Vogue essay.

The self-criticism sent her spiraling. Tallulah started using alcohol and drugs to mask who she really was. When she was 15, Tallulah had a scary incident that almost cost her life. “I guzzled vodka, and I almost died from alcohol poisoning,” she said on “Red Table Talk” in 2019. While living with Rumer Willis, Tallulah was drinking three bottles of wine a day and pilfering her older sister’s medication. By the time she went to college, she was seriously struggling with addiction, which sent her into a deeper depression.

She went into rehab for 45 days. News of it leaked to the media, even though she had requested privacy. “My understanding was that someone who worked there sold the story,” she told Allure in 2015. So she decided to use her voice. “I love the girl in this picture, I cry for her and I mourn her lost years,” she captioned an Instagram photo (seen above) in 2017.

Tallulah Willis has been diagnosed with many conditions in her life. But a pretty big one fell through the cracks. Tallulah didn’t learn about her autism spectrum disorder until she was 29 and didn’t disclose it to the public until the following year. “Tell me your autistic without telling me your autistic,” she captioned a March 2024 Instagram post featuring a throwback video of Bruce Willis talking to reporters on the red carpet while holding a young Tallulah, who continuously touched his head and ears.

In response to a commenter, Tallulah revealed how recent the diagnosis was. “This is the first time I’ve ever publicly shared my diagnosis. Found out this summer and it’s changed my life,” she wrote. In an August 2024 post about Tallulah’s dermatillomania, an Instagram user, seemingly unaware of Tallulah’s diagnosis, asked if she had ever been tested because many of her conditions were commonly seen among women. “So many girls are undiagnosed and a lot of stuff you’ve mentioned before sounds like autism to me,” the user wrote.

Tallulah didn’t mind the question and used it as an opportunity to share how she felt about her diagnosis. “I got diagnosed last summer! I’m proud of my ASD,” she responded. The netizen’s assertion was correct. Women and girls are often underdiagnosed because the literature and criteria for diagnosis have been based on how boys and men manifest symptoms, which can be different from how girls manifest them, Psychology Today noted. 

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, struggling or in crisis, or has experienced an eating disorder, contact the relevant resources below:

• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

• Visit the National Eating Disorders Association website or contact NEDA’s Live Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You can also receive 24/7 Crisis Support via text (send NEDA to 741-741).

• The VictimConnect Hotline by phone at 1-855-4-VICTIM or by chat for more information or assistance in locating services to help. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.