Rumer Willis, Demi Moore, Instagram


Rumer Willis has good genes!




Rumer's road to success hasn't been without speed bumps, of course.

It started when Demi and Bruce Willis separated in 1998 and divorced in 2000. The actress married Ashton Kutcher in 2005, though they broke up in 2011 and their divorce was finalized in 2013. Bruce, meanwhile, got married to Emma Heming in 2009, and they have since welcomed two kids together.

"When their father and I decided to divorce it probably had the biggest impact on her," Moore said of raising Rumer with sisters Scout Willis and Tallulah Willis in Dancing With the Stars' May 11 episode. Rumer acknowledged that it was tough growing up in the spotlight, explaining, "Media attention is tough when you are a kid. It is definitely weird to have that be such public knowledge. A couple times, things would happen in my family—whatever drama it was—I couldn't leave my house for a week. As I got older and people started commenting on how I look, that's when it really started to affect me."

"There really wasn't anything I could do to stop it," Demi recalled. "Her self-esteem was nothing. I could only just keep loving her and loving her until she could love herself." When Rumer said she wanted to sign on for Dancing With the Stars, Demi admitted her "whole insides...were screaming 'No.'"

Even before Rumer won the mirror ball trophy, Demi was proud of how far Rumer has come. "It has nothing to do with her being my kid or Bruce's kid. It has everything to do with just who she is," she said, adding, "One of the most beautiful things that I've witnessed is watching her passion become greater than her fear."

Rumer has said she "compared" herself to Demi as a teen. "I would go, 'My mom wears smaller jeans than me! Oh, God. Maybe I'm not skinny enough.' Every girl looks up to her mother, but my mom was larger-than-life and I felt I could never be like her. I just didn't feel like we were even the same caliber."

Demi tried to offer her support, Rumer added. "My mom would sometimes see what was happening and her advice was, 'Don't let that infect you. People are going to have opinions. You don't have to make them yours.'"

"The tabloid bullying all three of my children have experienced, especially in their teens, has truly been painful," Demi told Us Weekly. "No child should be subjected to that type of judgment or criticism, especially based on their looks. As a parent, all you can do is love them and keep loving them until they love themselves."

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