Demi Moore to Divorce Ashton Kutcher

Demi Moore announced on November 17, 2011, that she was ending her six-year marriage to Ashton Kutcher, telling the Associated Press: "It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I have decided to end my six-year marriage to Ashton. As a woman, a mother and a wife there are certain values and vows that I hold sacred, and it is in this spirit that I have chosen to move forward with my life."

Moore, 49, and Kutcher, 33, had married in September 2005 in a relationship that surprised even them — she told Vanity Fair in 2007 that meeting a man 15 years her junior who considered her three children "a bonus" had "caught us both by surprise." Kutcher became stepfather to Rumer, Scout and Tallulah Belle, Moore's daughters from her marriage to Bruce Willis, which ended in 2000. The extended family stayed famously cordial: Moore and Kutcher attended Willis's 2009 wedding to Emma Heming.

The split followed months of tabloid reports alleging Kutcher's infidelity. Kutcher responded on Twitter — fittingly, since the couple had conducted much of their romance in public tweets followed by millions: "I will forever cherish the time I spent with Demi. Marriage is one of the most difficult things in the world and unfortunately sometimes they fail."

Beyond the tabloid narrative, the pair had built a substantive partnership in philanthropy, founding the DNA Foundation (the Demi and Ashton Foundation) in 2010 to combat the sexual exploitation of children worldwide.

At the time, Moore was appearing in Margin Call and Another Happy Day; Kutcher had just replaced Charlie Sheen on Two and a Half Men and was about to appear in the ensemble film New Year's Eve. No divorce papers had yet been filed when the announcement was made; the divorce was finalized in 2013.