Demi Moore Says Nude Vanity Fair Cover Photo ‘Was Not For the Magazine’

In 1991, Demi Moore appeared naked and pregnant on the cover of Vanity Fair in a groundbreaking move that changed attitudes around pregnancy and inspired women to celebrate and embrace their bodies more than in decades past. The unforgettable issue was released while the Oscar nominee was expecting Scout, her second child with then-husband Bruce Willis.

The publication called the cover story, which was shot by Annie Leibovitz and written by Nancy Collins, “Demi’s Big Moment.” Fresh off the success of 1990’s “Ghost,” the multitasking powerhouse gave part of the interview from the set of her next film, “The Butcher’s Wife,” as her oldest daughter Rumer Willis napped in her trailer.

While appearing on the July 2 episode of “The Oprah Podcast,” Moore joined the former talk show host along with author Laura Day for a conversation on intuition. During the chat, she revealed her real motivations behind the famous cover, as well as a surprising secret.

Demi Moore On Why She Bravely Agreed to Naked Vanity Fair Cover

Bringing up how Moore helped change American attitudes towards pregnancy, Winfrey said, “Before 1991, women wore maternity clothes. You would cover up your pregnancy.”

“There was still kind of a shroud of shame,” the star of “The Substance” chimed in. She went on to say she felt women were celebrated when they first announced their pregnancies, and when the baby arrived, but that “there was a point as your body grew that you were supposed to cover up. I would say up until the beginning of the ’90s. And they had these Peter Pan collars,” she recalled.

Moore has gotten adulation for the cover ever since it came out. One fan wrote in a 2023 Reddit thread, “Demi Moore was the first mainstream naked pregnancy photo to be on the cover of a magazine! It was truly groundbreaking then.”

After Winfrey praised Moore’s cover pose a “bold, audacious move,” the actress responded by explaining why she did it.

“For me, life is all about transformation. And growth. And then everything else is in service to that,” she said. The 62-year-old also called the joyful shoot “a moment of wanting to authentically express how I was feeling as a pregnant woman.”

She then revealed she didn’t do the picture seeking attention. “I didn’t understand why it was supposed to be hidden or not celebrated. It was about trying to claim more of myself. Not set out to be a big feminist statement,” she shared.

Demi Moore Said Naked Photo ‘Was For My Family’

During the podcast conversation, Moore surprisingly revealed that the now-famous stripped-down shot was taken spontaneously, and wasn’t originally meant to appear on the cover, or in the magazine at all.

“When we did the photo, it was done for me. It was not for the magazine. That was for my family.” Moore told Winfrey the picture she stripped off for was the last one of the photo session, and that she was later contacted for permission to use it for the cover. She explained her decision to say yes with the simple statement, “It felt right.”

Moore attributes the iconic cover’s success with trusting her gut feeling that it was the right move. She stated, “When the intuition comes in it just your knowing. It’s just there.”