Demetria Gene Guynes was born in 1962 in Roswell, New Mexico. Hers was a troubled childhood. Demetria’s parents, Dan and Virginia Guynes, were alcoholics and the family moved often to avoid debt collectors. Dan and Virginia fought often, and they married and divorced twice. When Dan left for the last time, in contrast to the natural order of things, Demetria had to take care of her unstable mother. Virginia found occasional work as a model in Los Angeles, California, but her alcoholism worsened. When Demetria was 12 years old, her mother tried to commit suicide the first time by taking pills. Demetria saved her mother’s life by digging the pills out of her unconscious mother’s mouth and calling an ambulance. Shortly thereafter, she learned that the man she called dad was not her biological father. Her real name was not Demetria Gene Guynes, but Demetria Gene Harmon. Her family had withheld the fact that her biological father was Charles Foster Harmon, an airman with the Air Force who had abandoned Virginia while she was pregnant with Demetria.
Virginia’s lack of steady employment and abuse of alcohol led to constant money problems. The money problems led to more alcohol abuse, which led to more money problems. It was a vicious cycle. When Demetria was a young teenager, her mother started taking her to bars to get attention. Late one night, Demetria and her mother returned to their apartment from a bar. Demetria was surprised to find a man they knew waiting for them inside their apartment. Virginia was not surprised. The man had a key to their apartment. The man took Demetria into her bedroom and raped her. Demetria was 15 years old. Before the man left, he asked her how it felt to be sold by her mother for $500. In addition to the awfulness of being raped, Demetria felt betrayed by her mother, the one person who should have protected her.
At 16, Demetria became a high school dropout and a runaway. Like her mother, Demetria began working sporadically as a model. At just 5 feet, 5 ½ inches, she was considered too short for most modeling jobs. Like her parents, Demetria tried to drown her troubles with alcohol. With nothing to lose and with no experience, she began auditioning for acting jobs. As with modeling, her acting jobs came sporadically. Alcohol abuse led to drug abuse. Demetria was headed for certain self-destruction when her boss and coworkers forced her to go to rehab. While Demetria’s mother’s life spiraled out of control with numerous arrests including burglary, arson, and multiple charges of drunken driving, Demetria led a life of sobriety. Because of her troubled childhood, Demetria now works with a foundation whose goal is to eliminate child sex slavery and human trafficking called Thorn: Digital Defenders of Children. You may not have known about Demetria Gene Guynes’s troubled childhood or her work with Thorn, but you certainly know her from films such as “Striptease,” “G.I. Jane,” and “Ghost.” You know Demetria Gene Guynes as Demi Moore.
Sources:
1. Concord Transcript (Concord, California), March 31, 1970, p.18.
2. Citizen (Solana Beach, California), December 11, 1987, p.58.
3. “Demi Moore reveals the devastating childhood that shaped her – ABC News – Part 1/3,” ABC News, Youtube.com, September 23, 2019, accessed June 21, 2026, https://youtu.be/MlFl5WiMzBI?
4. The Fresno Bee, October 7, 1994, p.2.
5. The Signal (Santa Clarita, California), October 5, 1995, p.2.