In the years following Ashton Kutcher's divorce from actress Demi Moore in 2013, the former
star of That '70s Show has reportedly maintained friendly ties with his ex's daughter, Rumer
Willis.
Let's take a look inside the intriguing relationship between Ashton and Rumer.
While most of us had a celebrity crush, growing up, just imagine if that crush showed up on
your doorstep one day to "hang out" with one of your parents.
That's how Rumer Willis probably felt back in 2003, when Ashton Kutcher started dating
her mom, actress Demi Moore, when he was 25, and Moore was 41.
"Bonjour."
Willis reportedly welcomed Kutcher into her celebrity family circle, but she admitted
she had a crush on him back in the day, telling the Daily Mail in 2009,
"Ash was a heartthrob, to me.
I had pictures of him on my wall at boarding school and
I remember my mom saying that her new 'friend' Ashton was going to come and hang out with
us.
And I said, 'Whoa, wait, Ashton Kutcher?'…
I definitely blushed."
But Kutcher and Willis quickly bonded.
She says,
"We talk about everything: auditions, boyfriends, family.
He understands more than my parents sometimes because he's closer to my age."
In 2012, Us Weekly reported Kutcher slipped in discreetly to The Sayers Club in L.A. to
support Rumer at her live show.
And a source dished the details to the tab, saying the former Two and a Half Men star
joined Rumer at her table, and that Rumer seemed happy to see him.
"I think the beauty of being a creative person is having, you know, the ability to try different
things out."
During the show, Willis belted out classics like "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay," and
Kutcher reportedly got out of his seat to get closer to the action.
Us Weekly's source also noted that Kutcher gave Willis a long hug after the show.
Kutcher was equally supportive of Willis' stint on Dancing with the Stars in 2015, tweeting:
"Rumer I'm so proud of you.
You are an artist of movement."
"For me it's more just about having an opportunity to show who I am regardless of where I've
come from or who my parents are."
Despite the fact that Ashton and Demi divorced in 2013, Kutcher's bond with Rumer reportedly
remains tight to this day.
In fact, in 2015, Kutcher took to Facebook to praise a think piece by Willis in Glamour
magazine.
She had written in the mag,
"When you grow up in the public eye the way that I did, everyone's looking at you and
waiting for you to do something crazy or say something wrong or have a meltdown."
"I just think it's so easy to judge someone and from behind a computer screen."
She revealed that she was relentlessly bullied over her looks while growing up and also struggled
with her body image.
She went on to insist:
"Life's hard enough as it is.
Let's find strength in the fact that we're different and unique.
Let's allow ourselves to say, 'These are my flaws, but I'm still beautiful.'"
"We have this image of like I have to look a certain way and I have to be a certain way.
And how are you ever supposed to feel comfortable with yourself?"
Her article was shared on Kutcher's A Plus site, which promotes positive journalism.
Kutcher also wrote on Facebook,
"She's going against the grain and that's exactly what needs to be done.
She's helping other girls realize that they don't need validation from others."
Ashton Kutcher and his second wife, actress Mila Kunis, welcomed their first child, Wyatt
Isabelle, in October 2014, but Kutcher already felt like he had plenty of experience as a
father, thanks to having helped raise Rumer and her two sisters.
But he told The Talk in 2014, that while he had experience parenting teenage girls thanks
to the Willis clan, babies were something different.
He said,
"We really started studying what it is to take care of a baby and how you do it, and
the whole thing.
It's all on Google, it's kinda there."
"I mean if I sing 'The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round', she loses it."
The relationship between Rumer and Kutcher has inspired plenty of speculation over the
years, but as E! Online's Ted Casablanca put it in 2012:
"It's not as scandalous as [some] make it seem.
[Willis and Kutcher] have a relationship and it makes sense that they would have contact
even after Ashton's marriage to her mom ended."
"I think one of the hardest parts was growing up with having your whole life kind of be
on display and have people have an opinion about it."
As Kunis told Marc Maron in 2014, Kutcher's relationship with all three of Moore's daughters
was nothing fit for tabloids.
She said,
"They had three kids they were raising.
It was, like, a normal life.
He was younger but he loved those kids."