Demi Moore reflects on 1996's 'Striptease' backlash

Demi Moore candidly recalled the time when she received backlash after portraying a stripper in Striptease.

The 61-year-old actress in a recent interview with Variety opened up about the reason behind starring as an exotic dancer in the 1996 comedy.

She revealed that her role was about the struggles of a single mom who gets a job as an exotic dancer to help fund her custody battle.

"Take Striptease: There was an interesting kind of judgment placed on a woman who worked as a dancer, but the idea was that this was a woman trying to take care of her child in the best way she could," she said.

"I thought, 'If a woman is skilled enough and has the desire to [serve], why wouldn’t we want her there?' I didn’t understand why that door was closed. Many of my films had similar themes,” she said referring to her role in 1997's G.I Jane.

She went on to say, "I did Striptease and G.I. Jane back to back. If anything in this industry has ever been stacked against me, it was having those two films come out at the same time and becoming the highest-paid actress on top of that.”

"That moment was so powerful for me because it wasn’t just about me; it was about changing the playing field for all women,” Moore recalled.

But the backlash did not stop there, she noted: “The narrative quickly became, 'Well, she’s only getting paid that number because she’s playing a stripper.' It hit me really hard.”

However, Moore accepted that she was breaking the stereotype and this reaction from the audience at the time was natural.

"But at the same time, I understood that anybody who steps out first is going to take the hit. That goes for anybody challenging the status quo,” she added.