Tallulah Willis talks years-long estrangement from mother Demi Moore

Today, Tallulah Willis is filled with gratitude for her bond with her mother, actress Demi Moore. But it wasn’t a relationship that came easily.

In an emotional Instagram post as the US celebrated Mother’s Day on Sunday, Willis, 26, reflected the three-year period during which she was estranged from her mother.

“I didn’t talk to my mom for almost 3 years, and during that shattered time this day would transport me from fragmented pieces to absolute dust,” Willis wrote on Instagram.

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“I remember tearing up driving to work upon hearing a radio ad that cheerily recommended which ‘perfume Mom would absolutely adore.’ I digested the entire celebratory nature of the day as an insensitive slight to MY pain and MY story.”

As the family discussed on Red Table Talk last year, Willis’s estrangement from her mother followed Moore’s split from third husband Ashton Kutcher in 2012, and her subsequent relapse on alcohol and Vicodin that drove a wedge between herself and her daughters: Tallulah, Rumer, 31, and Scout, 28.

But as Tallulah pointed out in her post, the years of painful conflict between Moore and her children later transformed into a thriving relationship.

“However, my story changed. Through a metamorphosis of inward self reflection and a malleability to forgive, three years did not stretch to forever,” Willis wrote. “The gratitude of that truth has never lost its potency.”

Now closer than ever, Willis says she is “magnetically transfixed by my mother.”

“If you know me personally you know the magnitude of her presence in my life,” Willis wrote. “I often wonder what kind of connection could be formed were I to meet the 26-year-old Demi. I think we’d have a lot of laughter. The kind where you are silent and doubled over and gasping for a sliver of air.”

Focusing on this Mother’s Day, Willis says the holiday began with a running hug to her “maternity deity” and a big kiss on the cheek.

“I revel in all that you are @demimoore and all that you continue to teach me,” wrote Willis. “I witness what this day means for you, and where you came from. Every nook and cranny of you is worthy and gilded. I love you.”

Willis also made a point to recognise all the people who were struggling.

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“Channeling love and strength to every mother to be, tired mamas, stepmom, and mamas who’ve lost something precious,” said Willis. “I’m sending it to anyone who struggles to celebrate a day when it reminds them of a loss.”

In the present, Willis certainly has plenty of humour about her relationship with Moore. After her more serious post, she followed with a photo of Moore attempting to pull a splinter out of of her daughter’s behind.

“But also a more accurate representation is D picking splinters out of my buns with a magnifying glass,” Willis joked.

Along with her father Bruce Willis, to whom Moore was married from 1987 to 2000, Tallulah has been quarantining together with her sisters at Moore’s home in Idaho. Her stepmother, Emma Heming Willis, and two young stepsisters recently joined the group.