Rumer Willis declares she’s ‘single mom-ing it’ after Derek Richard Thomas split 1 year after welcoming daughter
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, there was a breakup.
Rumer Willis and her boyfriend, Derek Richard Thomas, have split after welcoming their daughter in 2023.
On Thursday, the 36-year-old revealed she was single while answering fan questions in an “Ask Me Anything (AMA) Uncensored” on her Instagram Stories.
One user asked, “Are you and Derek still a couple?” to which Willis responded, “Nope. I am single momming it and coparenting.”
The actress then took a moment to gush over her 1-year-old daughter, Louetta Isley Thomas Willis.
“I’m so grateful for Lou,” Willis concluded. “She is the best thing in my life and I am forever grateful I was able to have the time in that relationship for her to come into my life.”
When asked by another follower if she wants more kids, the “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood” actress said yes.
Something she noted during an exclusive interview with The Post in February.
“I’m crazy. I want six or seven children,” Willis admitted at the time. “God willing and my body allowing me to do so, then I’m down for as many children as the universe wants to give me.”
Although it’s unclear when the exes went their separate ways, the eldest daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore did share that Thomas was helping her with her music career in May.
“You know, my partner and my daughter’s dad is an incredible songwriter and musician,” Rumer told The Post, “and he’s been helping me out a lot with just kind of getting the confidence to write more and put myself out there to keep always putting new music out.”
But regardless of being sans relationship, being a mother is the most important role in the star’s life.
“My daughter is: she’s so funny and brilliant and silly and like, even the expressions she makes, you know, so I feel unbelievably lucky,” Rumer confessed. “I feel like I was blessed to have an incredible experience as of yet with her.”
And one thing is clear: embarking on motherhood has changed the singer for the better.
“I feel like I’m such a different person,” she shared with The Post. “I’ve had so many different experiences and evolved so much, just with myself, that there’s almost no way for it not to be kind of unique and different and special.”
“I think in a lot of ways becoming a mother and seeing the world change the way it has gives me a different perspective,” she continued. “I feel like a more grounded version of myself and more able to share from a deeper place.”
She also took a moment to reflect on her daughter’s bond with her own father, who was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in 2023.
“What’s lovely is my dad’s connection with my daughter is so beautiful and wonderful, and I feel so grateful for it.”
But this isn’t the first time Rumer has detailed the “Die Hard” actor’s impact on her life.
“He’s so incredibly loving and kind,” she told The Post this past winter. “My dad is absolutely the reason I like my taste in music [and for] some of my humor. Both of my parents are so silly … I’m just so grateful to have that kind of spark of mischief and fun and and play no matter what age I am.”
And little Lou even boasts some of the 69-year-old’s traits, too.
“When she gets stern [or looks] very discerning, she looks just like my dad. I love it, but she’s like my mini doppelganger. It’s trippy,” she gushed.
The “Odd Way Home” star also has noted where her little one’s moniker came from.
“Her last name is Willis … I kept thinking to myself, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s perfect, because we’re both musicians. And obviously my dad is so musical.’ And so, her name kind of is a mix of Louis Armstrong, Etta James and the Isley Brothers.”
“I was like, ‘There’s Lou Reed, Louis Armstrong.’ Because when I was a kid, my dad’s favorite artists are Louis Armstrong and Etta James,” she continued. “So, it’s also part of the reason why I kind of won the ‘last name’ conversation. Because I said, ‘My dad doesn’t have any sons, so we have nobody to carry on the Willis name.’ And I said [to Thomas], ‘You have a brother.’ So I got to carry the torch, I love it.”
Rumer and Thomas were first confirmed to be in a relationship in 2022, announcing her pregnancy together shortly after in December.
In August of that year, the singer revealed their new romance while celebrating Willis’ 34th birthday.
“In the short time we’ve been together you have filled my life with joy and peace,” Thomas wrote on Instagram at the time. “Everything is just so easy with you. We sing, we dance, we play and most of all we laugh. Thank you for being you you’re a magical human I’m so glad you came into my life :-),” Thomas wrote alongside a photo of them at the Rolling Stones BST Hyde Park concert in London.