When hearing the name “Ashton Kutcher,” you’ll probably think about his striking looks, his acting chops, or his lovely marriage and family with Mila Kunis.
However, not everything has been easy for the actor. The audition which earned him his big break almost never happened.
The actor also struggled with his brother’s disease to the point where Ashton considered saving him at the cost of his own life.
Ashton Kutcher was born in Iowa in 1978. The actor is just a few minutes older than his sibling, Michael.
Although the two are twins, their life experiences could not be more different: Michael was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy before he had entered kindergarten.
“Cerebral Palsy” refers to a group of disorders related to balance, movement, and muscle control. It can also involve hearing, speech or intellectual impairments as well as epilepsy.
Ashton’s adolescence was very difficult since he usually came home from school to find bad news about Michael’s condition.
After a serious viral infection, Michael’s heart failed. In order to survive, the young teenager needed a heart transplant.
Ashton has confessed that he contemplated ending his own life by jumping off a balcony, since he knew his heart would be a match for his brother.
Luckily, his father was able to stop him. Less than 24 hours after his heart failure, Michael was able to find a suitable donor.
On top of his brother's health issues, Kutcher also struggled with his parents’ divorce, which happened when the actor was 13 years old. In order to cope, Ashton started rebelling.
When the performer was in his senior year, he broke into his high school during the night with his cousin in an attempt to steal money.
The two were caught and Ashton was sentenced to 3 years probation and 180 hours of community service.
This incident was the turning point that allowed the actor to redirect his life, since he lost everything.
“My girlfriend broke up with me. Then I lost my college scholarships and got kicked out of the National Honor Society and the choir and the play,” Kutcher confessed.
The actor decided to cope in different ways, like joining the school’s football team.
Kutcher is so passionate about the sport that he became an assistant coach to a Los Angeles high school team years later.
After he finished high school, Ashton began studying biochemical engineering in order to find a cure for cardiomyopathy, a heart condition Michael struggled with.
In order to pay for his studies, Kutcher began taking odd jobs. In 1997, the future star was scouted by an agent and started working as a model.
While Ashton’s career was taking off, his brother continued to have health scares, like undergoing open-heart surgery after doctors found a clot in his blood.
The actor began feeling guilty.
In a joint interview with Michael, Ashton confessed to Dr. David Agus that he had asked himself why he had gotten to be so lucky while his brother struggled with so many issues.
The actor then revealed what Michael said to him when they had a conversation about his guilt.
“He looked at me and he said, ‘Every time you feel sorry for me, you make me less,’” Ashton said.
After that conversation, Kutcher was finally free of his guilt. However, something else remained that was straining the brothers’ relationship: Michael’s jealousy.
“There was a moment when I viewed him as receiving more attention than I was and that kind of drove me down to a place where I was jealous,” Michael confessed in the interview.
After an honest conversation, the siblings were able to be completely honest with each other and tear down the walls they had built.
During his college years, Ashton continued to work as a model. Eventually, he dropped out of college and moved to California to pursue his true passion: acting.
In 1998, Kutcher got his big break when he landed a role in the sitcom “That 70s show.” What not so many people know is that Ashton almost didn’t audition.
At the time, the actor had to choose between auditioning for the sitcom or for another NBC pilot called “Wind on Water.”
Kutcher finally decided to pass on the latter. This proved to be a good choice, since “Wind or Water” never took off.
Ashton began what would turn into a wildly successful acting career. It seemed like the star’s life was finally peaceful.
However, in 2001, the actor found himself at the center of a terrible tragedy.
At the time, Kutcher was dating fashion student Ashley Ellerin.
The two had planned on going to the Grammys after party, but when the actor knocked on Ashley’s door, she didn’t answer even though the lights in the house were on.
Eventually, the star left.
The following morning, Ellerin’s roommate discovered her body. She had been stabbed to death.
Kutcher went to the police. He later explained that he “freaked out” because he knew his fingerprints were at the door.
Ashley’s murderer was later discovered and found out to be the “Hollywood Ripper”, which was the name given to Michael Gargiulo.
With time, Ashton was able to recover from the loss and found love again. In 2005, he married Demi Moore. The couple seemed happy.
“He was 25. I was 40,” Moore says in her book, Inside Out. “But I’m telling you: we couldn’t feel it. We were totally in sync from our very first conversation.”
The actors’ romance might have seemed idyllic when it started, but it soon turned sour. The couple split six years later and the marriage ended in divorce.
In 2019, Demi released her memoir “Inside Out,” where she claims that Kutcher cheated and encouraged her to have threesomes and break her sobriety.
The actress also revealed she suffered a miscarriage while dating Ashton.
Kutcher initially responded to the claims through Twitter, where he wrote, “I was about to push the button on a really snarky tweet. Then I saw my son, daughter and wife and I deleted it." By 2019, the performer had remarried.
Ashton then shared the quote “Life is good,” which he attributed to his father. In another tweet, he wrote his phone number and said “For truth text me.”
In a 2023 interview with Esquire, the actor opened up about the memoir’s release, saying. “I was f*cking pissed.”
Kutcher explained that he felt like the press had finally laid off him and his wife Mila Kunis, but the day after the book's release the couple and their kids were being chased by the paparazzi once again.
Ashton also revealed how he felt after Moore’s miscarriage, saying it was “really, really painful.”
Shortly after his divorce, the actor found love with someone he had met decades before: Mila Kunis, his co-star in “That 70s show.”
Mila described what it was like to see Ashton again, saying “I think for the first time ever he took my breath away – I was like f—, he’s good-looking.”
After catching up with her, Kutcher invited the actress to his housewarming party.
He initially wanted to set Kunis up with one of his friends, but the chemistry he had with Mila was impossible to ignore.
“I didn’t leave until the next morning,” Kunis revealed.
In 2014, the couple welcomed their first child. Kutcher opened up about parenthood saying “It’s the greatest thing on earth.”
The couple got married in 2015 and had their second child a year later.
Throughout their marriage, Mila has proved to be a great support for the actor.
During an episode of “The Checkup: With Dr. David Agus”, Kutcher revealed he was “lucky to be alive” after suffering from vasculitis, an autoimmune disorder.
Ashton explained that he woke up one day and started having vision issues. The disease also affected his hearing, which threw off the actor's balance, meaning he couldn’t walk.
Agus, who is also the star’s physician, revealed that Mila was there for the actor during his whole recovery.
“I will say, your wife was amazing,” he said. “Just curled up there by your side. It was a beautiful thing to watch.”
Ashton then revealed that the condition changed his mindset when it came to facing challenges.
"The minute you start seeing your obstacles as things that are made for you, to give you what you need, then life starts to get fun, right?
You start surfing on top of your problems instead of living underneath them,” the actor stated.
As well as trying to improve himself, Ashton has also used his fame to help others. In 2012, he founded “Thorn” with his then-wife Demi Moore.
“Thorn” is an engineering and data science team that uses new technology to combat online criminal activity against children.
In 2014, “Thorn” developed a product to aid in identifying victims who were being sold online. They provided it to law enforcement for free.
Today, Kutcher still works with the organization. The actor even ran the 2022 New York Marathon to raise money for “Thorn” and he managed to raise more than a million dollars!
Although Ashton's life has certainly not been easy, the actor is a great example of learning from struggles and using fame and power to help others.
Here at Rumour juice, we wish Kutcher and his family can continue helping other people and supporting each other.