14 DAY TRIAL // Rumer Willis, one of the 3 daughters of Demi Moore and ex-husband Bruce Willis, is emerging as a favorite on the current season of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars. On the latest episode, before a spectacular Waltz with partner Val Chmerkovskiy, Rumer opened up on her experience with bullying and how it was to grow up being constantly told that she was “ugly.”
All 3 Willis girls have their father’s prominent chin and that has often made them easy targets for very mean jokes from celebrity bloggers, tabloids and random commentators. Rumer admitted in front of the DWTS cameras that this kind of constant bullying often made her question herself.
“I need to stop listening to the bullies”
As is customary before each routine, before Rumer and Val’s Waltz, DWTS producers included footage from the rehearsals. Usually, this is the celebrity’s chance to discuss how they relate to the number they’re preparing for, and to dedicate it to someone else.
Rumer talked about her experience with bullying and how she grew up being told from all sides but her family that she was ugly: Buttaface and potato head were the most common monikers she’d hear in comments about her looks.
The first video embedded below includes the behind-the-scenes footage, but it’s missing the music from the dance routine, most likely because of copyright issues. For that, check out the second embed: Rumer and Val did a beautiful number on Adele’s “Turning Tables.”
That Rumer looked “different” would have been hard enough on its own as a teenager, she says, but having famous parents to which people could constantly compare her made her an even easier target.
The fact that her mother Demi was considered one of the most beautiful women in the world made it all that much worse.
“When I was a teenager I was super awkward. I don't think I really felt comfortable in my body or with how I looked, and people were nasty,” she says as tears well up in her eyes. “I thought… ‘If I change my face or get really skinny, that will be it. That will be the answer.’ And it’s not.”
What made her understand that she needed to stop paying attention to the bullies was the way her sister Tallulah took matters into her own hands when she struggled with addiction and emotional issues. Today, Rumer knows that what people say about her doesn’t make her as a person.
Family shows up for support, gets emotional
If you’re feeling emotional from this, either because you’re sorry for her or you can relate, you’re not the only one: her entire family (minus dad Bruce) was in attendance and was left in tears at the end.
In the second video, you can see Demi and Tallulah sitting right next to Bruce’s mother Marlene Willis. Behind them is close family friend Glenn Close, who was visibly moved by Rumer’s admission and dance routine and seemed to be struggling to hold back tears.
Online, Rumer is getting more support than she did since she started on DWTS: not only is she a beautiful young woman and a good dancer, but she’s also a role model for all women going through similar experiences, it is being said.
She’s also praised for her courage to speak up, in a context in which cyberbullying is becoming a very serious issue, with potentially disastrous consequences.
