Demi Moore Shares the Relatable Reason Why She Doesn’t Give Her Daughter Rumer Willis Parenting Advice

“It is better that I just keep my mouth shut.”

Rumer Willis and Demi Moore attend the Versace FW23 Show at Pacific Design Center on March 09, 2023 in West Hollywood, California.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Demi Moore is opening up about life as a grandmother and why she avoids giving her daughter, new mom Rumer Willis, parenting advice.

On Friday, Sept. 20, Moore visited the set of The Jennifer Hudson Show and opened up about her role as grandmother to 17-month-old Louetta, Willis' daughter.

"You know what I have learned? Is that you do not give advice unless you are asked, in general," the actress, who appears in the new movie The Substance, told host Jennifer Hudson.

“First of all, she is a wonderful mother and I am so proud of her,” she said of her daughter and new mom, Willis. “She is really incredible. And if I am asked, I am happy to share my experience, strength, and hope. But if I am not, it is better that I just keep my mouth shut.”

Moore went on to explain that "as a parent, you have to give your children, I think, the dignity of their own process."

"Sometimes they need to find their own way," she added, "even if I'm right, and often I am...but that doesn't make her wrong."

Demi Moore on Parenting, Being a Grandma, and Her Unexpected Special Bond - YouTube Demi Moore on Parenting, Being a Grandma, and Her Unexpected Special Bond - YouTube
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Moore shares three daughters—Rumer, 36, Scout, 33, and Tallulah, 30—with her ex-husband, Bruce Willis. As a proud mom of three, Moore explained that she views her role as a parent not to necessarily "rescue" her children but to instead give them room to grow, make mistakes, and establish their own, unique identities.

"For me I feel like my job is just to love my children and to give them the room to be who they are,” she said. "Rescuing our children, which is our intuitive instinct, isn't always the best thing. You have to give them the room.”

Rumer Willis became a mom on April 18, 2023, when she welcomed her daughter Louetta to the world with her now ex-boyfriend, Derek Richard Thomas. In August, Willis confirmed that her and Thomas are no longer together on Instagram, after a fan asked if the pair were "still a couple."

“Nope. I am single momming it and coparenting," Willis wrote on her Instagram Stories. "I’m so grateful for Lou. She is the best thing in my life and I’m forever grateful I was able to have the time in that relationship for her to come into my life.”

In a moving Instagram post on her 36th birthday, Willis described what it's like to be a mom, calling her daughter her "soulmate and the love of my life" before alluding to her breakup and how the past year had made her stronger.

"My tiny girl you are every birthday wish I’ve ever had come true. You are my soulmate and the love of my life. This last year has been so wild and challenging and beautiful and you are such a light," she wrote at the time. "I am so grateful for you. For your tenderness and love. I learned so much this year. So much about myself. I feel more free and happier than I have been in a long time.

"Navigating through this last year has shown me strength inside myself I didn’t know was possible and I am so proud of myself," she continued. "I wrote some lyrics to a song that I’m working on and they have never felt more true. 'A voice rose up from my soul, to tell me that I can let go, and show me what I already know. That I have always been whole.'”

Danielle Campoamor
Weekend Editor

Danielle Campoamor is Marie Claire's weekend editor covering all things news, celebrity, politics, culture, live events, and more. In addition, she is an award-winning freelance writer and former NBC journalist with over a decade of digital media experience covering mental health, reproductive justice, abortion access, maternal mortality, gun violence, climate change, politics, celebrity news, culture, online trends, wellness, gender-based violence and other feminist issues. You can find her work in The New York Times, Washington Post, TIME, New York Magazine, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, TODAY, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, InStyle, Playboy, Teen Vogue, Glamour, The Daily Beast, Mother Jones, Prism, Newsweek, Slate, HuffPost and more. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and their two feral sons. When she is not writing, editing or doom scrolling she enjoys reading, cooking, debating current events and politics, traveling to Seattle to see her dear friends and losing Pokémon battles against her ruthless offspring. You can find her on X, Instagram, Threads, Facebook and all the places.