The singer and actress Bette Midler is speaking out this week to reveal a run-in that she had with the Hollywood legend Bette Davis decades ago. Let’s just say it didn’t go very well!
Midler Recalls Meeting Davis
While being interviewed by Hoda Kotb on her Making Space podcast on Wednesday, Midler recalled meeting Davis and telling the star that she was named after her. Davis’ reaction to this supposed honor was not what Midler was expecting, however.
“My mother named me for Bette Davis, which Bette Davis was not pleased to hear,” said Midler, 78, revealing that they met at Elizabeth Taylor’s 60th birthday party.
“I had just had my baby. And I was invited, and I was, like, so exhausted. And in those days, there was no hair and makeup,” added Midler, who gave birth to her daughter in 1986. “You didn’t know about hair and makeup. You just did your hair, and you put on a dress and went.”
Much to Midler’s surprise, Davis was “very offended” that she had attended the event without looking glammed up. Davis reportedly spent the entire party with Bob Dylan, who Midler collaborated with for a duet cover of “Buckets of Rain” on her 1976 album.
“So, I can’t imagine what he said to her,” she stated.
“Anyway, so I was a little bit hurt,” Midler added of their interaction.
Related: Bette Midler, 78, Gets Emotional As She Reveals ‘Greatest Thing’ She Ever Did – ‘Peak Of My Life’
Midler’s Sisters Named After Hollywood Legends As Well
Midler went on to reveal that her two sisters Judy and Susan were respectively named after the Hollywood legends Judy Garland and Susan Hayward.
“And I was Bette Davis,” she explained. “Although, I pronounced it ‘bet’ [and] she pronounced it ‘Betty.'”
Later in this interview, Kotb asked Midler if her mother lived long enough to see her achieve fame in Hollywood just like Davis did.
“She saw enough of it that it thrilled her. She saw the movie, she saw The Rose,” Midler said. “And she died not long after that. She died actually during the making of, I think, Outrageous Fortune. Which was in the eighties. She got to see a lot of it.”
Related: Jelly Roll Breaks Down As He Reveals Bette Midler Song His Mother Told Him To Play At Her Funeral
Davis And Midler’s Histories
Davis won two Oscars throughout her decades-long Hollywood career. She eventually died in 1989 at the age of 81 after a battle with breast cancer. Davis was a star during Hollywood’s golden era, so it comes as no surprise that she was put off by Midler’s lack of glam at a major party.
Midler has been nominated for two Oscars, though she’s never won. She’s currently promoting her new movie The Fabulous Four, which hits theaters today. The film also stars Sheryl Lee Ralph, Susan Sarandon and Megan Mullally. The movie is about “three lifelong friends who travel to Key West, Florida, to be bridesmaids in a surprise wedding of their college girlfriend Marilyn.”
Check out a trailer for The Fabulous Four in the video below.
Hollywood is full of big personalities, so clashes happen all the time behind the scenes. In the end, Davis seems to have taught Midler a lesson she never forgot. Indeed, we doubt Midler ever went to a Hollywood party de-glammed again!
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