Rumer Willis’ relationship with her daughter’s father wasn’t the best, but it taught her an important lesson.
“I’m so grateful in a lot of ways because there are things that I learned,” Willis, 37, said on the Monday, May 18, episode of stylist Maeve Reilly’s “The Inside Edit” podcast. “Even though it was one of the most brutal things that I’ve ever had to do, there are things that now, going into my next relationship, that I have a totally different set of standards and a different thing that I’m looking for.”
She added, “I don’t want to just be with anybody. I don’t want to just have a partner.”
Willis and ex-boyfriend Derek Richard Thomas started dating in 2022. They welcomed daughter Louetta in April 2023. By August 2024, Willis confirmed that she and Thomas, 31, had split by telling fans that she was “single-moming it and coparenting” in a social media statement.
On Monday’s podcast episode, Willis recalled attending Reilly’s April 2024 wedding to Zach Quittman, explaining that watching the nuptials became a “huge reckoning” for her.
Rumer Willis and Derek Richard Thomas’ Relationship Timeline
“I heard your vows, and I just realized that the situation I was in was never going to look like that, no matter how much effort I put in,” Willis recalled. “I was watching you guys, just weeping, holding my child. I just thought, I need to have more value for myself.”
She added, “I need to go and leave, no matter how scared I am and find something that looks like this because I want that.”
Willis noted on Monday that she’s “just starting to feel back in my power” after splitting from Thomas.
“I would say in the last eight months of feeling kind of confident and feeling back into myself after a really challenging relationship,” she continued. “I try not to speak negatively, but also my truth is that it was really brutal and challenging. I’m so proud of myself.
Willis added, “I work really hard, and I show up for my kid. It’s such a privilege to be a mom. It makes me so happy.”
Willis explained that, while she hasn’t dated in over a year, there is a list of nonnegotiables for her next partner.
“If I meet a dude that is not interested in having kids, sorry, got to go,” she said. “Or someone who is not willing to grow and has an interest in self-reflection and that kind of thing. Sorry, buddy.”
