Shady Things Fans Ignore About Ashton Kutcher
Ashton Kutcher lies pretty low. The former star of That '70s Show has led a relatively quiet life following the 2015 conclusion of Two and a Half Men, on which he replaced the super shady Charlie Sheen. And he's since embraced family life with wife and former co-star Mila Kunis and their two kids: daughter Wyatt and son Dimitri. Apart from starring on the Netflix series The Ranch from 2016 to 2019, Kutcher is also slated to appear on the big screen in The Long Home (2019), though its release date isn't clear at the time of this writing. In addition to his acting endeavors, Kutcher's career has been largely focused on tech industries (he was one of the first investors in Uber, for example) and humanitarian efforts.
That said, Kutcher annoyed a whole lot of stars during his tenure on Punk'd, but the MTV classic isn't the only time he's ruffled feathers. In fact, it's safe to bet that he wishes the following stories were all an elaborate ruse, too — because this actor's issues may go a lot deeper than his penchant for trucker hats. Let's dig into the shady things fans ignore about Ashton Kutcher.
Demi Moore accused Ashton Kutcher of cheating during their marriage
Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher were married from 2005 until they separated six years later (finalizing their divorce in 2013). Their marriage was a rocky one, at least according to Moore. In the actress' October 2019 memoir, Inside Out, Moore alleged that she and Kutcher engaged in threesomes, which she claimed may have triggered his reported infidelity. "Because we had brought a third party into our relationship," Moore wrote (via Radar Online), "Ashton said, that blurred the lines and, to some extent, justified what he'd done."
Moore also accused Kutcher of cheating more than once: First with a woman named Brittney Jones that Kutcher reportedly met while out with Moore's daughter, Rumer Willis, in 2010, and then with another woman named Sara Leal, whom he met at That '70s Show co-star Danny Masterson's bachelor party the following year. Adding insult to injury? Kutcher's alleged affair with Leal supposedly went down during his and Moore's sixth anniversary weekend.
For her part, Leal claimed that Kutcher told her he and Moore had separated before they hooked up — though actor Scott Eastwood later alleged that he had been dating Leal at the time of the scandal. Meanwhile, Kutcher previously denied the 2010 cheating allegation, but has remained mum on Moore's 2019 claims.
Kutcher's ex-wife accused him of shaming her battle with addiction
The marital discord between Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore may have extended beyond alleged infidelity. Moore revealed in Inside Out: A Memoir that she suffered a heartbreaking miscarriage early on in her relationship with The Butterfly Effect (2004) star. Explaining that this sent her spiraling into drug and alcohol abuse after being sober for two decades, Moore claimed that Kutcher wasn't sympathetic to her struggles with addiction and had actually shamed her over it.
In an excerpt published by Radar Online, Moore alleged that Kutcher once told her, "I don't know if alcoholism is a real thing — I think it's all about moderation." In an effort to be fun and to please Kutcher, she "cast about for justifications for his argument" and began to drink again. Unfortunately, this didn't end well, as Moore's addiction reared its head once more ... at which point she claimed Kutcher failed to "offer [her] any reinforcement or compassion."
"Ashton had encouraged me to go in this direction," Moore wrote of her alcoholism (via People). "When I went too far, though, he let me know how he felt by showing a picture he'd taken of me resting my head on the toilet the night before. It seemed like a good-natured joke at the time. But it was really just shaming." Thankfully, Moore also revealed that she's now sober.
He had an odd reaction to his divorce from Demi Moore
Although Demi Moore's telling of her marriage with Ashton Kutcher made it seem like she took the brunt of the breakup pain, the actor took it hard, too — but his response to the split was little short of bizarre. During an appearance on Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast in 2018, Kutcher revealed that he fasted for a week alone during a retreat to the Big Sky mountains of Montana after he and Moore finalized their divorce.
"I took all my computers away, my phone, my everything," he said (via People). "I was there by myself so there was no talking, and I just had a notepad and a pen and water and tea for a week." Kutcher went on to explain that he began to hallucinate shortly into his jaunt. However, he also occupied himself in another way. "I wrote down every single relationship that I had where I felt like there was some grudge or [something] and then I wrote letters to every single person and sent the letters on day [seven]," Kutcher continued. "I typed them all out and sent them."
Kutcher may have found this exercise to be spiritual and healing, but there was no word on how his exes felt about the letters.
Was Ashton Kutcher unkind to ex-girlfriend January Jones?
Ashton Kutcher may have also not been too nice to ex-girlfriend January Jones ... at least, according to Demi Moore. In her Inside Out memoir, Moore claimed that Kutcher was so prone to jealousy during his 1998 to 2001 romance with the Mad Men actress that he allegedly accused Jones of having an affair with Moore's ex-husband, Bruce Willis, on the set of 2001's Bandits (via Radar Online). Moore went on to recall asking Jones about the matter at an event, to which Jones reportedly replied with a laugh, "Are you serious? I told him a hundred times, 'I don't want to f**k that old man!'"
But this wasn't the only rumor about Kutcher supposedly being cruel to Jones. It's been widely speculated that he was the subject of a story she told GQ in 2009 about an unnamed ex who wasn't supportive of her acting career. "He was like, I don't think you're going to be good at this. So — f**k you! He only has nice things to say now — if anything, I should thank him," Jones said at the time. "Because the minute you tell me I can't do something, that's when I'm most motivated." She later explained during a 2016 appearance on Watch What Happens Live, "The person who wrote the interview did the math and thought it might be [Kutcher]; so I never really said who it was."
Sharon Osbourne and Trent Reznor aren't fans
We can't only blame Punk'd for this one, but it's pretty safe to say that Ashton Kutcher might not have the best reputation with certain other celebrities. Sharon Osbourne, for example, once admitted on Larry King Now that she "didn't get on" with the actor when he visited The Talk. "[He had a] bad attitude for me, because I got his name wrong. So he was p***ed," Osbourne said. "And he [came on] with an attitude and he goes, 'And what are you — what have you done in this industry?'" She recalled telling the "kid" that he didn't know who he was dealing with.
She wasn't the only famous face to have a bad impression of Kutcher. Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor once griped to Vulture that his own work with Apple Music and Beats may not be taken seriously because of Kutcher's involvement with tech investing. "That kind of situation, which mine isn't, would be insulting to the people that actually are doing the important jobs," Reznor said. "And I don't want to hear about 'Ashton Kutcher's a f**king tech genius.' I don't give a s**t about that. He seems like an a**hole."
Kutcher says he wants connection, but might just want your data
Speaking of Ashton Kutcher's tech involvement ... it could be said that the actor's used his celebrity (and the occasional scandal) to the advantage of the startups in which he's invested.
In January 2019, Kutcher tweeted out his cell phone number in an attempt to "[change his] social media strategy." In a since-deleted tweet, he wrote (via The Hollywood Reporter), "I miss having a real connection w/ real people. My Community. From now on you can just text me. I won't be able to respond to everyone but at least we can be real w/ each other & I can share the unedited latest & greatest in my world. Yes this is my #." However, when fans texted the number, they reportedly received automated responses, including a link to sign up with the company Community and receive marketing messages. According to Tech Crunch, Kutcher did the same marketing stunt six months later.
In lieu of publicly responding to the controversy surrounding ex-wife Demi Moore's claims about him in Inside Out: The Memoir that September, Kutcher instead appeared to use the scandalous claims to promote the venture yet again. "For truth, text me," he tweeted alongside his phone number for a third time. But it once again led to Community signup links sent out in response, as well as automated messages about politics. Color those of us who wanted the dirt a bit disappointed.
Ashton Kutcher's tone deaf remarks about women in the workplace
Ashton Kutcher might seem too tech-forward to bother with LinkedIn, but he did — and it didn't end well for him. In 2017, the actor announced that he'd be hosting a "live open [dialogue] about gender equality in the [workplace]." Some of the questions he posed on the professional platform, however, were less than progressive, including: "What are the [rules] for dating in the [workplace]? Flirting?" and "What are the clear red lines?" Also listed was "What advice should we be giving to female entrepreneurs?"
Of course, Kutcher got a lot of flak for his remarks. Paradigm CEO Joelle Emerson tweeted, "Yikes. These are definitely *not* the right questions. Most rely on flawed assumptions and perpetuate problematic myths." Another person wrote, "This doesn't help anyone, least of all the women it's intended to help. It just creates a completely skewed paradigm w/ the same issues." Yet another Twitter user cracked, "Maybe we Female Entrepreneurs are being PUNK'D."
Kutcher technically didn't apologize for his remarks, but he did address the backlash in a series of tweets. "Thank you everyone for the feedback on the questions I posted on LinkedIn. Good and bad. Already a learning experience," he wrote, adding, "I've already offended some folks by asking the wrong questions. I'm certain given the sensitivity of the topic I will say other things wrong ... Hope we can find space to be wrong in the pursuit of getting it right."