The last Demi Moore film I saw was St. Elmo's Fire back in the 1980s. I've never seen the television show Moonlighting, and the original Die Hard did not leave me feeling that I really needed to see Bruce Willis reprise his role of John McClane a second (or third or . . .) time. And I was too busy with a newborn in 1998 to have time to reminisce with Ashton Kutcher and his gang about growing up in the 1970s.

So since I'm not particularly a fan of Moore, Willis or Kutcher, why am I drawn to reading about them? Simply put, I think they are more intriguing off-screen than on.

Hollywood divorces are known for ex-spouse bashing, bitter custody battles, and worries over who will come out on top both legally and in the court of public opinion. When Moore and Willis divorced in 2000 after 13 years and three kids together, there was really no reason to think their dissolution would be much different than others. Sign your papers, leave the communication to the lawyers and the press, and have your people make it known that the two of you are never to be seated within 200 feet of each other at any event.

Then, Moore adds what should have been fuel to the fire by falling for a man 15 years her junior. Oh, I get it. This is an episode of Punk'd designed to get her ex-husband's goat. Willis will make himself look like a fool by settling this with flying fists and jabs in the tabloids about having bottles of wine older than Kutcher, right?

Wrong. The couple is the real deal. Willis attends their 2005 nuptials. The three come to refer to their clan as "extended family." Willis invites everyone to vacation at his pad on Parrot Cay. Willis regularly shows up with their three daughters and Kutcher on the red carpet at Moore's movie premieres. Moore et al. do the same for his Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony. They all go to the Super Bowl together.

Wait a minute. Did they miss that memo on avoiding one another at all costs and having one's rep issue polite, milquetoast statements for major accomplishments?

But surely Kutcher must stand out like a sore thumb. After all, he is only eleven years older than his oldest step-daughter, Rumer Willis. The three teenage girls should be rolling their eyes and avoiding him like last-years fashions, right?

Wrong again. They have affectionately nicknamed him MOD, which stands for "my other dad." He tells reporters that he is "eternally grateful" for having them in his life. The girls talk about him being a mentor and about how they like all three parents being friends. About the most "negative" comment you'll find is 14-year-old Tallulah Willis admitting that sometimes she finds it weird that people think her step-dad is "hot." (Trust me, Tallulah, many kids have heard their step-dads called much worse.)

Now since I've never been invited to celebrate holidays with the group (yes, they do that, too), I cannot vouch for what goes on behind closed doors. I have to rely on what gets into the magazines. And publications never airbrush a photo or tell anything but the complete truth, right?

But even if things might not be rosy absolutely all the time, isn't it nice to see three adults projecting images of positive parenting? How great is it that Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah don't have to hear their mom and dad say nasty things about each other or be made to choose sides? Maybe Willis does get a pang of jealousy or regret when he sees Moore and Kutcher together – and Moore might feel the same when Willis brings his newest girlfriend along – but they are able to check those emotions and essentially send the message to the girls that divorce ends a marriage, not a family.

And despite all the digs late-night comedians make about his age, I give Kutcher credit for being equally mature. He seems to genuinely accept that Moore had a life before him, and instead of encouraging anyone to forget that, he has worked to find his own niche and to acknowledge that while Willis may not be Moore's husband, he is still the father of her girls. And if the two men really have come to be friends, all the better.

In a recent issue of Harper's Bazaar (which, incidentally, features Moore and the girls in dresses and jewelry that rival the GNP of some small countries), Rumer talks about wanting to earn jobs in her budding show-business career rather than relying on her well-known parents. While I can respect her wanting to make it on her own, I hope she doesn't distance herself from them too much. It isn't every celebrity kid who can actually be proud to admit the people from whom she inherited her genes.