Demi Moore has opened up about what it took for her to step into her 1996 role as an exotic dancer in Striptease.
The 62-year-old Golden Globe winner — who recently vowed to fight against the desexualization of older women — attended the New Yorker Festival on Saturday, where she discussed her decades-long acting career with journalist Jia Tolentino.
‘I really feel like roles choose you as much as you choose them… There is a thread that goes through, even if it’s an unconscious one. I think mine tend to also challenge the status quo,’ she said, per an account from The Mirror.
Demi admitted that her various roles have challenged her to confront her insecurities, specifically naming two if her later 90s films.
‘There is a certain physicality, and I think that a lot of that was in an effort also for me to overcome some of my own issues around my body and my own discomfort in my own body,’ she reflected.
She elaborated, ‘Particularly the ones that were so physical, like G.I. Jane and Strip Tease, where I really knew that my body was a real pivotal part of the character.
‘It pushed me to have to, in a sense, face myself and face that discomfort by knowing that it’s going to be shared on a certain level. And I think The Substance did it in a different way at a different time.’
Demi Moore has opened up about what it took for her to step into her 1996 role as an exotic dancer in Striptease
Demi became the then-highest-paid actress in Hollywood when she received $12.5 million to lead the cast of Striptease
‘There is a certain physicality, and I think that a lot of that was in an effort also for me to overcome some of my own issues around my body and my own discomfort in my own body,’ she reflected; pictured in 1997’s G.I. Jane
Demi held her tiny Chihuahua Pilaf in her hand while heading to the Festival on Saturday, held at Webster Hall.
She stepped out in style, clad in a monochrome green Yves Saint Laurent velvet suit and ruffled blouse.
Styled by Brad Goreski, the actress added towering black platform boots.
Demi accessorized with black-rimmed aviator eyeglasses as she carried a black leather YSL handbag.
Her ensemble was complemented with small gold hoop earrings and her lustrous jet black locks were bone straight and parted down the middle.
Last year the screen siren marked a career milestone as she picked up the Golden Globe for Best Female Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy category for her role in The Substance.
She also collected a SAG Award, Critics’ Choice Award, plus BAFTA and Academy Award nominations for her part in the body horror film from director Coralie Fargeat.
Next she can be seen in season two of the Paramount+ drama Landman, premiering November 16.
The 62-year-old Golden Globe winner held the tiny Chihuahua in her hand while heading to the New Yorker Festival
She kept her pint-size pup close as she headed to a speaking engagement
Demi stepped out in style, clad in a monochrome green Yves Saint Laurent velvet suit and ruffled blouse
The Hollywood vet sat for a conversation with journalist Jia Tolentino
She has also been tapped for the adventure sci-fi comedy I Love Boosters from Boots Riley, coming in 2026.
Demi is one of Glamour magazine’s Women of the Year, and opened up about aging inside the pages of the glossy.
In a conversation with The Substance co-star Margaret Qualley, she explained the connection between her hair and hitting back against ageist expectations.
‘[We often hear] that as women get older, they shouldn’t have long hair. And for some reason, to me, I didn’t buy it. I didn’t believe it, and it didn’t make sense to me why that had to be the case,’ she mused.
The star added, ‘And I did notice, particularly women who were going through menopause, that they were…. I was looking around and seeing that they all were kind of cutting their hair in a very almost masculine way, just desexualizing themselves.’
On how she ended up rocking waist-length locks, she said: ‘And so I think there was a combination of this attachment to it too. I don’t know. Sometimes I think I’ve just willed it.’
