Demi Moore's Daughters Cope with Mom's Rehab

Feb. 1, 2012 — -- With Demi Moore in the midst of a breakdown and estranged husband Ashton Kutcher no longer in the picture, how are her daughters coping?

Rumer, the eldest of Moore's three daughters with actor Bruce Willis, was with her mom when Moore was rushed to the hospital on Jan. 23. Now, she appears to be the 49-year-old star's crutch and confidant.

"Demi is extremely close with Rumer," People magazine's Charlotte Triggs told ABCNews.com. "She's been trying to help her mom through this, but obviously Demi's got some deeper issues."

Rumer, 23, hit the town after Sunday's Screen Actors Guild Awards, but she wasn't exactly celebrating. She and her friend Annie Starke -- Glenn Close's daughter -- had dinner with Close and were talking seriously, according to People.

Moore's other two daughters have maintained lower profiles. Scout, 20, is a student at Brown University in Rhode Island. "She's still at school, she's continuing on with her studies and hasn't come home," Triggs said.

Tallulah, 17, has been staying with her father. She was seen having lunch with Rumer on Saturday. "They're trying to go about their business," Triggs said. "Everyone is trying to play it cool."

That's understandable, considering the number of media outlets clamoring to find out what's really going on with Moore (her rep has declined to comment since her Jan. 24 statement that Moore is seeking treatment for stress and exhaustion). But the drama is likely taking a toll on the young women.

"When a parent is unable to even hold herself together, it can be terrifying, certainly for young children but even for young adults," said clinical psychologist Wendy Walsh. "I think the 17-year-old is probably in the most vulnerable place. This is a huge, public event for her family, and she can't escape."

Walsh speculated that this probably isn't the first time Rumer has stepped up to take care of her mother ("I can't imagine, at the age of 49, that this is the first time she's exhibited emotional instability"), but said that this ordeal might have an upside.

"After all is said and done, she may become the kind of mother that she hasn't been able to be in a while," Walsh said.

Moore and her daughters posed together for a 2008 photo shoot with Harper's Bazaar. In an interview with the magazine, she called them "wonderful" and said that they help her stop worrying about getting older. "When I look back in the mirror," she said, "the reflection I see isn't so bad, because I'm seeing the beauty of my whole being and my whole life."