There aren’t many people who can say they actually deserve the title of “icon,” and Bette Midler is one of them. Throughout her multidecade career, the actress and singer’s name has come to be associated with Broadway and Hollywood brilliance. After making her debut in off-off-Broadway productions in New York, Midler quickly rose to fame as a gay legend after landing a gig singing at the renowned Continental Baths and releasing her debut record, “The Divine Miss M.” Since then, she has made appearances in films including “Beaches,” “Hocus Pocus,” and “The First Wives Club,” as well as on stage in productions of “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Hello, Dolly!” and on television in shows like “The Politician” and her own self-titled sitcom. She then released 13 further studio albums. She has won two Tony Awards, two Emmy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards over the years.
The renowned performer will probably retire in 2022. Like she said, “I’m 75. I no longer feel the need to prove myself. I have a “I did that” feeling.” She still has at least one more performance left before calling her quits, as she will be playing the beloved Winifred in “Hocus Pocus 2.”
Are you curious to know a little bit more about this stage and screen icon? The untold story of Bette Midler is revealed here.
1. Jewish girl from a low-income family, Bette Midler grew up in Hawaii.
Even though it may be difficult to image Bette Midler as anything other than a beloved celebrity, there was a moment when the young Bette felt out of place in her surroundings. As a young Jewish girl growing up in Hawaii, Midler experienced a sense of alienation. She remarked, “I was the only white girl for miles around.
In Hawaii, she encountered a lot of people who were unfamiliar with Judaism. One year, she remembered, “My parents kept me home for Yom Kippur, and I came back with a note saying I was out for a religious holiday.” “What religious holiday, asked my teacher? I uttered “Yom Kippur.” There’s no such thing,” she remarked.
Midler remembered that because her family was also not wealthy, she was unable to purchase new recordings. She was forced to settle with the ancient 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s family records. I sung along to those records until I wore out the grooves, she recalled.
2. After arriving to New York and getting a modest role in the film Hawaii, Bette Midler got her start.
When Bette Midler was cast in her debut movie, “Hawaii,” in 1965 at the age of 20, opposite Julie Andrews and Richard Harris, everything for her changed. Midler played a seasick passenger on the Thetis boat, and she was simply used as an extra in the film.
She told Parade that she had enough money as a result of the part to go to New York City that same year. She told Interview that she hadn’t even considered moving to New York at the time. She claimed, “I came to New York because I had to…I just had to.” “Now that I’m here, I must leave immediately! I just must leave; I must discover a means of doing so!”
3. Previously, Bette Midler performed as a performer at a gay bathhouse.
Contrary to popular belief, one of Bette Midler’s largest early-career gigs was as an entertainer at the renowned Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse in Manhattan. Before she became well-known under the moniker “Bathhouse Bette.”
Her singing instructor helped her land the job. “Thus, I received a call from my teacher informing me that a man she knows was looking for entertainment in a gay bathhouse. I then asked, “Does it pay?” Yes, it pays $300 for the weekend, he responded.” Midler thought it was adequate and she concurred.
Midler thought she was the ideal match. She told Roger Ebert, “When I worked at the baths, I could go there and feel right at home.” “I was like a sponge when it came to absorbing the LGBT sense of humor. My demeanor has changed, and even the tone of my voice has changed since I’ve gotten out into the world more.”
4. Bette Midler had some significant professional regrets.
You’ll immediately learn why Bette Midler is already renowned in the industry after looking at her remarkable resume. But it seems that even Midler has some regrets about opportunities she may have lost in the past. In 2010, she said, “I’ve created so many. “It’s all so sad, oh my God. But it would be best if I ignored them and moved on.”
Saying no to the movie “Sister Act,” which, according to Midler, was actually created expressly for her, is one of her biggest regrets. “I don’t know where I got that from, but I replied, “My fans don’t want to see me in a wimple. Why would I say something like that?” Whoopie Goldberg, in contrast, was given the well-known role and, in Midler’s words, “earned a fortune.”
Additionally, Midler asserted that she shunned the Oscar-winning part in “Misery” played by Kathy Bates out of fear.
5. As flashy as Bette Midler appeared on stage to be, she wasn’t really.
Fans of Bette Midler are likely aware of her lack of stage fright. She was anything but that, with extravagant outfits and what is frequently referred to as a campy flare. It turns out, though, that once she left the stage, she was completely different.
She admitted to Roger Ebert in 1980, “I have one pair of old white painter’s pants I’ve had for ten years, and that’s what I wear when I’m not working. “I spend my entire day sitting and reading. I’m really reserved. I’m not who I appear to be on stage.”
Midler even admitted that she was uncomfortable dressing up for movie premieres and business gatherings.
She remarked, “I don’t know what to wear, and I purchase all this conservative things like I’m trying to impress everyone. Many fans may have believed that Midler’s stage appearance was organic, but she revealed that it was all part of a meticulously perfected act.
6. Bette Midler experienced what she describes as a nervous breakdown following a tense movie experience.
Bette Midler seemed to have it all while her career was advancing. However, the rising celebrity didn’t always have it easy. She even went so far as to refer to her period of worry and melancholy as a “nervous breakdown.”
She said to Oprah Winfrey, “I was falsely accused of grandstanding after I completed a movie in the early 1980s, and I never did any such thing. “It knocked me for a loop, and I started to feel extremely down. I sobbed a lot and was unable to leave my bed. I referred to it as a nervous breakdown because I didn’t know what else to say.”
The only option for Midler to recover was to embark on a tour and give a live performance for her audience. “My heart rate is raised by it. I get to dress fabulously. I get to amuse others. That’s my main focus, and I’ll always come back to it “She spoke.
7. In the 1990s, Bette Midler alleges that she was molested.
Hollywood was and continues to be frequently a toxic, dangerous environment for women, as the #MeToo era has demonstrated. Bette Midler allegedly fell victim to this kind of Hollywood chauvinism in the 1990s when Geraldo Rivera, a journalist and TV host, allegedly took advantage of her. Midler was “insatiable” during their relationship, according to Rivera’s biography.
Midler painted a different picture during a conversation with Barbara Walters. The reality is, she admitted, “I didn’t, I didn’t remember,” but she did recall one thing: how she and Rivera first met, which she described as “not humorous.” She continued by describing how Rivera and his producer approached her for an interview in the early 1970s. She claimed that “he and his producer left the cast and crew in the other room, pushed me into my bathroom, broke two poppers, placed them under my nose, and then started groping me.” “I did not sacrifice myself on Geraldo Rivera’s altar; he was unsightly.”
8. Bette Midler’s daughter is also an actress
The Midler family is talented; Sophie von Haselberg, Bette Midler’s daughter, is a prominent actor. Von Haselberg had recently showed interest in following in her mother’s footsteps, Midler said in an interview with People in 2008. Midler was taken aback, but she didn’t interfere with her daughter. She explained, “[Sophie] very just, within the last six months, started making noises like that, and I was, of course, as astonished as anyone else. “She has never before brought up the company, but God bless her. Everyone must pursue their own pleasure, you know.”
Von Haselberg appears to have followed her bliss and done it rather well. In 2011, she enrolled in Yale’s acting program, and by 2014, she was performing in the Broadway production of “Billy & Ray.” In 2015’s “Irrational Man,” a Woody Allen film, she received her first acting gig. She has since had appearances in a number of other shows, including “The Wizard of Lies,” “House of Cards,” “American Crime Story,” “American Princess,” and “Pose.”
9. At 71, Bette Midler was cast in her first lead role on Broadway.
Even though Bette Midler is a Broadway legend, she didn’t get to perform in a lead role on a Broadway stage until she was 71 years old. At that time, she was playing the title role in a revival of “Hello, Dolly!” — a part that has previously been famously performed by Ethel Merman, Barbara Streisand, and Carol Channing. It should come as no surprise that the encounter altered my life. Midler said, “Really, the experience of filming this program transformed my life. “I can’t express how much it transformed my intellectual and physical lives.”
Of course, it wasn’t exactly a simple task for Midler. She told Time that “Dolly is a big reach.” “I’ve performed on Broadway, but never as the lead. She has to be witty, sing, and dance, which is a brand-new thing and a significant challenge for someone my age 71.” Midler even admitted that she might not return to Broadway after playing Dolly.
For years, Bette Midler pushed for the production of a Hocus Pocus sequel.
One of Bette Midler’s most recognizable roles, as Millennials will definitely recall, was as the cunning witch Winifred in Disney’s “Hocus Pocus.” “Hocus Pocus” has been a Halloween cult favorite since its release in 1993. Nevertheless, despite its success, it took nearly three decades before a sequel about the Sanderson sisters was produced.
As it turned out, Bette Midler was in charge of the sequel’s publicity effort. She told Entertainment Weekly, “Even when it became a success, a sequel wasn’t considered.” “After ten years, I was surprised to see the returns and I immediately began making calls.” For the next 20 years, Midler persisted in pressuring Disney executives to start a sequel. Midler became aware that “Hocus Pocus” was becoming more and more well-liked as time went on. Attending events under the guise of Winnie, she “realized there was something going on,” as she described it. She stated: “Once a year, I would phone the studio and ask, “How about it? ” They didn’t start pushing for it until around three years ago, at which point the movement began.”
10. Bette Midler wrote a children’s book about technology
Technology is one thing that Bette Midler has never really embraced. ” It’s torturing me,” she admitted. ” It takes me at least 20 minutes to recuperate if I use social media.”
A children’s book about a true story—in which a rare bird showed up in Central Park in 2018 and became a popular tourist attraction—was written by Midler in 2021 as a result of her troubles with the modern world. In Midler’s book, the appearance of the bird prompts everyone to put their phones down and savor the moment. In her work, the protagonists are “just focused in what’s on the screen and how they may photograph themselves against particular settings,” as she told NPR. Midler claims that she encounters this occurrence frequently in her own life. The duck then arrives in town and somewhat undoes that The goal of Midler’s book is to teach young children how to interact with the real world without the aid of a screen.
