Tom Cruise Felt ‘Awkward’ Around Pregnant Demi Moore, Actress Says

Demi Moore recently opened up about her experience working with Tom Cruise on the 1992 classic film A Few Good Men, revealing that she believes the actor may have felt awkward during preproduction because she was heavily pregnant at the time.

Speaking at the New Yorker Festival on October 25 in a Q&A with Jia Tolentino, Moore, 62, shared that she was nearly eight months pregnant with her second child, Scout Willis, when she started reading lines with Cruise, 63, and director Rob Reiner.

“I think Tom was quite embarrassed,” Moore said. “I actually felt okay about it. I was moving around, though, right? But I could tell he felt that it was a bit awkward.”

The actress, who also has daughters Rumer and Tallulah Willis with ex-husband Bruce Willis, explained that Cruise might have been uncomfortable because many of their Hollywood peers were not having children at the time. She reflected on the pressure women faced to choose between a career and motherhood.

“It’s one of the many things, for me, that I just felt didn’t make sense. And so I challenged that to say, you know, ‘Why not? Why can’t you have both?’” Moore said. “But with that, I think, came a lot of pressure I put on myself to, in a sense, prove that it was possible.”

Moore admitted that she pushed herself to manage both motherhood and her acting career flawlessly. “I look back at that time now, and I go, ‘What the f**** was I thinking?’ And what was I even trying to prove? But it wasn’t as supported as it is today,” she recalled. “You know, to be breastfeeding and then blocking and rehearsing a scene.”

She added that today’s young actresses face more support as they balance family and work. At the time, Moore said she felt pressured to get back into shape for the film even before giving birth, highlighting the intense expectations placed on women in Hollywood during that era.

Looking back, it’s clear Demi Moore had to navigate unique challenges as a pregnant actress on a major film set. Her honesty about these pressures sheds light on how far the industry has come in supporting working mothers, though it also shows the personal sacrifices women made in the past. What do you think about the challenges Moore described, and do you see Hollywood supporting mothers better today? Share your thoughts in the comments.