Demi Moore is reportedly struggling with intense disappointment after missing out on her chance at an Academy Award at the 2025 ceremony on Sunday.
The 62-year-old actress had been nominated for Best Actress — her first-ever Oscar nomination — for her performance in the satirical body-horror film The Substance, but it was Anora star Mikey Madison who took home the coveted honor.
Demi — who looked crushed during Mikey’s acceptance speech — ‘can’t help but feel heartbroken’ about how her night ended, a source told Page Six on Monday.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Moore’s representatives for comment.
The source added said the Ghost star had been ‘really hopeful’ that she might win the Oscar after winning at the Golden Globe Awards earlier this year, they added.
Demi’s win earlier in February at the Critics Choice Awards and her triumph just a week before the Oscars at the Screen Actors Guild Awards also made many awards-season prognosticators think she was set to win her first Academy Award.
Demi Moore, 62, ‘can’t help but feel heartbroken’ about losing Best Actress at the 2025 Oscars on Sunday, a source told Page Six. She was nominated for the satirical body-horror film The Substance; seen Sunday at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party
Mikey Madison, 25, was the victor for playing the title role in Best Picture winner Anora, which earned five Oscars
‘Demi is taking this loss very hard because she felt like this was finally her chance to take home an Academy Award,’ the source added.
Despite her alleged disappointment about losing out on the award of her dreams, the veteran star was still a good sport.
The source added that Dem was ‘thrilled for Mikey,’ as well as for the other nominees.
The other nominees included Cynthia Erivo for Wicked, Karla Sofía Gascón for Emilia Pérez and Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres for I’m Still Here.
However, it was still a ‘huge disappointment’ to be passed over.
According to Page Six’s source, one consolation for Demi were the numerous people who approached her at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party ‘to show their love and support for her work.’
On social media, several fans labeled Demi’s loss to Mikey, a 25-year-old up-and-coming star, as a case of art imitating life.
In The Substance, the G.I. Jane star plays Elisabeth, an actress and former Oscar winner who now hosts a popular aerobics television show.
Demi looked crushed as she watched Mikey’s acceptance speech from the audience
Despite that, the source added that Dem was ‘thrilled for Mikey,’ as well as for the other nominees; seen Sunday at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills
Some fans thought the loss ironically echoed the plot of Demi’s horror film The Substance, about an aging actress who goes to stomach-churning extremes to stay relevant after she’s fired from her popular TV show when she turns 50
But as soon as she turns 50, her piggish network boss (Dennis Quaid) pushes her out and seeks to hire a younger star to replace her.
Shortly afterward, Elisabeth learns of the Substance, which will allow her to live a week at a time in a younger body named Sue (played by Margaret Qualley).
Despite seeming being different versions of the same person, they don’t share the same consciousness, and they start to vie to stay in their bodies for more than a week at a time, with stomach-churning physical consequences for both.
For many fans of the over-the-top horror film, Demi’s loss to a younger actress was just acting out her character’s replacement by a fresher face in The Substance.
Taking to X/Twitter, fans shared: ‘wow demi moore getting passed up for a younger brighter star someone should make a movie about this’.
Others added: ‘The layers of irony to this year’s race as it relates to The Substance with Demi Moore losing to a younger actress. It’s kinda sad. #Oscars’; ‘Demi Moore losing to Mikey Madison is basically the plot of the Substance’;
‘Demi Moore losing Best Actress to a younger, hotter actress is literally what The Substance is about. Crazy. #Oscars’; ‘Kinda crazy that Demi Moore losing to Mikey Madison is literally the plot of The Substance…………. #Oscars’;
‘i’m not pitting women against each other i am a working writer and not a stan in case weirdos read this: mikey winning best actress is such an interesting way to close out the demi moore press cycle for the substance. life imitates art etc.’
Demi broke her silence on her shock Oscars loss with a message congratulating the Best Actress winner Mikey Madison on Monday
Moore brought fans inside her Oscars prep in the video
Her glam team got to work
‘does anyone else think demi moore losing best actress to a younger star might be evocative of the substance itself #thinking’;
‘The horrible irony of The Substance / Demi Moore losing awards to a movie about a beautiful, young, sex worker is actually making the existence of The Substance better and more meaningful which is crazy’.
Demi kept a positive public face, though, and shared a message on Instagram on Monday congratulation Mikey.
Moore kept her chin up after the disappointment as she posted video of her glamorous awards show prep, calling these last few months the ‘ride of a lifetime.’
‘As this awards season comes to a close, I’m so overwhelmed with gratitude for this journey,’ she captioned the Instagram reel. ‘It’s been the ride of a lifetime and we’re just getting started! So grateful for my team, my fellow nominees, and everyone who has made this experience so full of joy and light.’
She gave Substance director Coralie Fargeat and costar Margaret shout-outs, calling it an ‘honor’ to have worked on the film with them.
‘Thank you to the cast, crew, and fans of @trythesubstance — @isimostar and @coralie_fargeat it’s been such an honor to work alongside you, learn from you, and celebrate this film with you. And a huge congratulations to #MikeyMadison — can’t wait to see what you do next.’
The video began with Demi getting her hair and makeup done with her beloved dog Pilaf in her lap before she changed into her glamorous silver dress.
Demi looked elated sitting for hair and makeup
After the ceremony, she changed into a bathrobe and feasted on French fries
The star then got ready for the Vanity Fair Oscars party
Demi then headed to the Vanity Fair Oscars party with her daughters Scout, Tallulah, and Rumer
She continued striking poses before heading off to the Oscars.
When Demi returned, she changed into a bathrobe and feasted French fries with her family.
But the night wasn’t over just yet as Demi then changed into her second look of the night — a sexy gold dress — for an evening at the Vanity Fair Oscars party with her daughters Rumer, Tallulah, and Scout Willis.
In Anora, Mikey plays the title character, an adult dancer who escorts on the side.
After she and the son of a Russian oligarch get hitched, she expects a life on easy street, only for her new husband’s obscenely wealthy and influential parents to do everything in their power to annul the marriage.
The independent film cost only $6 million to make. Director Sean Baker won a record four Academy Awards — for Best Picture, Director, Editing and Original Screenplay — making him the first person to win four Oscars for a single film in one night.
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