Ashton Kutcher Fled to the Mountains After Divorce with Demi Moore
Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher were once one of the most interesting couples in Hollywood. It’s a relationship that very few saw coming at the time, and because everyone loves a good surprise, it was a twist that generated a lot of buzz. The attention that came with their relationship, however, was only surpassed by the attention that followed the divorce.
Moore has been a literal open book about the trying times of her second marriage and divorce. Her 2019 memoir, Inside Out, offers deep insight into the final days of their relationship. Kutcher, on the other hand, hasn’t been as open about that period in his life as his ex-wife. But a resurfaced interview reveals that, like Moore, the divorce had an untold profound effect on the Punk’d host that drove him away from modern society.
Ashton Kutcher starved himself in the mountains to cope with divorce
Kutcher opened up on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, explaining how his divorce put him on a spiritual path.
“Right after I got divorced, I went to the mountains for a week by myself,” Kutcher told Shepherd. “And I did no food, no drink, just water and tea. I took all my computers away, my phone, my everything. I was there by myself, so there was no talking.”
During this period of fasting and self-reflection, Kutcher tried to further repent for past sins that went beyond Demi Moore. He wrote a letter to everyone he felt he wronged, likening the therapeutic and soul-cleansing activity to an AA exercise.
“I wrote down every single relationship that I had where I felt like there was like some grudge,” Kutcher said.
He doesn’t specify if Moore was one of the exes he sent a letter to. Whether she was or she wasn’t, however, Kutcher credits the divorce for giving him some much-needed perspective.
What really ended Ashton Kutcher’s relationship with Demi Moore?
Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore first met at a casual dinner party with friends in 2003. Moore has described an electricity that found them when they found each other that night. She reminisces about staying up all night and exchanging life stories, feeling a deep comfort with the That 70s Show star.
“He was 25, I was 40. But I’m telling you: we couldn’t feel it,” Moore reveals in Inside out. “We were totally in sync from our very first conversation.”
After dating for two years, the pair married each other in 2005. But the happy years didn’t last long. Factors like substance abuse and dishonesty began to creep into their relationship. As they grew older, they were able to feel more and more the 15-year age gap between them, which wasn’t there at the height of their romance.
According to Moore, it was Kutcher’s frequent affairs that broke their marriage for good. And it was a split that affected her at her core for reasons that went beyond divorce.
“There are parts of what occurred with this relationship ending that were a level of devastating for me that wasn’t really just about that relationship,” Moore said in an interview with ABC News. “This really represented that I’m not lovable, that I’m not deserving. And that’s not about him, that’s all just about me.”
The divorce made Ashton Kutcher a better person
Apart from sending Kutcher off to the mountains, the Jobs star has shown appreciation to the divorce for helping him see marriage from a new angle. In 2017, Kutcher delivered a speech to Drake University, after the university gifted him the prestigious Robert D. Ray award. Taking the time to address his fellow Iowans in his hometown of Des Moines, Kutcher referenced that tumultuous time in his life to the crowd.
“I had the great fortune of getting a divorce,” Kutcher told his audience as Des Moines register documented the moment. “Because I felt the impact of it and I felt how much loss is in there and how much love is in there and that it’s not neat or clean or messy. And I understood, finally, my parents’ divorce in a whole different way.”
