Ashton Kutcher’s Life After Divorce:
While Ashton Kutcher’s divorce from Demi Moore was much publicised, his life post-divorce has been less so. Today we seek to address this by looking at how Ashton’s positive mind-set not only enabled him to cope with the divorce but enabled him to go from strength to strength in both his professional and personal life.
One would be forgiven for assuming Ashton Kutcher, best known for his acting, has it all, but it wasn’t always this way. During his early-life, the Hollywood heart-throb contemplated committing suicide so his healthy heart could go to his ill sibling, and he was convicted of burglary after breaking into his high school. How has Ashton managed to achieve success in light of these challenges? Perseverance – using his own words – “If anything, I’m a trier” and “it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you learn from the mistakes that you make and how you perceive the world that’s coming at you.” And it is this mind-set which has, most recently, enabled him to continue to succeed after his divorce from fellow Hollywood star Demi Moore after eight years of marriage.
Although the two separated in 2011, it was not until a year later that Ashton filed for divorce citing “irreconcilable differences”. And while the pair did not have children together, Kutcher was a stepfather to Moore’s three daughters from her previous marriage to Bruce Willis. The divorce required agreement on how they would split their £183m fortune. In light of this, Ashton’s comments that divorce is “not neat or clean” are unsurprising. Notwithstanding these complexities, however, there was amicability between the two. At the time, Demi announced the divorce with “great sadness” and Kutcher tweeted that he would “forever cherish” his time with Moore. Ashton’s holistic outlook, which no doubt helped enable him to move on positively by limiting how personally he took the divorce, was evident from the offset when he stated that “marriage is one of the most difficult things in the world and unfortunately sometimes they fail”.
Since their divorce, Thorn, an organisation which the couple set up together to tackle child sexual exploitation, has continued to grow, with Kutcher recently being invited to give evidence to the Senate Committee on how to tackle human trafficking and slavery. The couple have, therefore, not let their divorce affect their continued commitment to an important cause, highlighting how, even for those in the public eye, amicable divorces are possible and divorce needn’t have any more impact than necessary.
Ashton’s professional acting career has also gone from strength to strength. Post-divorce, Ashton has starred in the CBS sitcom ‘Two and a Half Men’, playing Walden Schmidt, reportedly earning over half a million dollars per episode. He also notably portrayed Steve Jobs in the biographical film ‘Jobs’ and is currently working alongside James Franco on ‘The Long Home’. This builds on other leading roles, such as in ‘Dude, Where’s My Car?’ and ‘What Happens in Vegas’.
If this wasn’t keeping Ashton busy enough, beyond the entertainment sphere, he is also a prominent investor.He is best known for his involvement in successful start-ups, particularly Uber and AirBnb. Unlike many celebrity investors, however, Ashton is said to bring a lot more than just his money to the table, adding value by also dedicating time and expertise to his portfolio investments. For example, he has used his significant social media influence, after famously being the first Twitter user to amass one million followers, to further his investments such as when he publicly defended Uber. This commitment is perhaps best evidenced by him providing investees his personal phone number so he is there whenever they need to contact him. It is this commitment to success which has contributed to Kutcher’s estimated net worth of over £100m.
Things have been just as successful for Kutcher in his personal life. He began dating Mila Kunis the same year he filed for divorce with Demi, with whom he now has two children. Although Kunis now describes Ashton as an “incredible father”, she admits that she did not initially see Ashton as anything more than friend after first getting to know him as co-star on the ‘That 70s Show’ in 1998. The pair eventually began seeing each other after Ashton’s marriage with Demi was over and when Mila had just left a long-term relationship. And, although they initially agreed never to get married, it’s clear that the couple were meant to be and, well, the rest is history!
What the above tells us is that while divorce is not without difficulties but having a positive mind-set can make you come out stronger. Ashton recognised the challenges of his divorce but used his perseverance and focus to move on to the next chapter of his life. His development post-divorce has even led him to conclude that he “had the great fortune of getting a divorce”. It is precisely this positive mind-set which has enabled him to go from strength to strength including increasing his involvement in important causes, which has benefited society as a whole.
Megan Bennie, Solicitor says: Ashton Kutcher may not make as many teen rom-coms as he once did, and for some that may seem like he is less successful, less in the public eye. However, the opposite could be said of his new post-divorce life. Many were shocked when tabloid stories around the time of his divorce from Demi Moore suggested he was actually the more financially successful. The business side of his life has gone from strength to strength and along with it the personal side too. Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher and one of the best-loved showbiz couples but they never seem to attract any drama or negative column inches. Both have had previous high-profile relationship (Kunis spent many years as the partner of Macauley Culkin) and it seems like second time around, both are keen to take things slowly and keep a low-profile (unlike some other celebrities out there). The most rewarding aspect of our jobs is not the successful conclusion of a divorce or a big ‘win’, it’s actually helping clients to start their lives afresh – either by drawing a line under their married life entirely, or by transforming it into a healthy co-parenting relationship – separate but still working together for their family. If couples can separate and start healthy, happy new lives under the glare of the media spotlight, there’s no reason that you couldn’t too. Divorce is the end of your marriage but it’s also the start of your future.