A cynic may note that it also allows Moore to thrust herself into the public sphere during lulls between movies, although she prefers to emphasize her good works through Twitter, such as raising awareness about human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children. Moore openly acknowledges that the platform enables her to bypass the meddling media, which, in the past, came between her and the world at large. “People are much more interested in what I have to say directly,” she says, “and that really changed the whole dynamic I have with fans.”
But it remains to be seen if Moore can mobilize her followers to the box office. So far they seem content to just read about her for free. And there have been times when Moore’s online presence has caused trouble—such as this fall, after blogger Perez Hilton linked to photos of her 15-year-old daughter, Tallulah, and posted comments about her “boobs” and “ass.” Moore blasted the post in a tweet, saying, “Clearly Perez Hilton isn’t taking violating child pornography laws very seriously.” Hilton fired back on his site by calling her tweet “libelous, defamatory, inaccurate and stupid.” The whole subject clearly continues to inflame Moore’s sensitivities, turning her from cougar to mama grizzly bear. Vaguely citing legal limitations, she carefully chooses her words. “We were away for my daughter’s birthday,” she explains. “When I came back, thousands upon thousands of people were writing to me, outraged about what had been posted about my 15-year-old daughter. I felt like I needed to acknowledge it.”
Moore visibly relaxes—she gets a bit moony, in fact—when talking about everyday life with her unusual blended family, which famously includes Kutcher and her three daughters, as well as her ex-husband and his new wife, 32-year-old Emma Willis. (Moore attended their 2009 wedding and calls Emma “a wonderful girl.”) Just two days before this interview, Moore had returned from celebrating her fourth anniversary with Kutcher on a romantic couples’ safari in Kenya. “It was just the two of us, with a guide,” she reports. “Having that time with just one another, disconnected from the cell phones, is important.” (Moore did, of course, tweet pictures throughout the trip of Kutcher and herself with elephants.)
The couple first met six and a half years ago. “The most overwhelming part of meeting someone that you already felt you had such a deep and old connection with is that your feelings are greater than the time you’ve had to actually be with one another,” she says. “Now we’ve had the physical time together. The love he has for me makes me a better person by giving me the courage to take risks. I can fail and have someone who loves me just the same. I never knew it was quite possible.”
