Bette Midler is opening up about her bittersweet encounter with her namesake, Bette Davis.
“My mother named me for Bette Davis, which Bette Davis was not pleased to hear,” Midler, 78, said on the Wednesday, July 24 episode of Hoda Kotb’s “Making Space” podcast.
According to the Hocus Pocus star, she met Davis at fellow screen icon Elizabeth Taylor’s 60th birthday in 1992, where Davis apparently took offense to Midler.
“I went to Liz Taylor’s 60th birthday party and it was very interesting,” she recalled. “Ms. Davis came. I had just had my baby … I was so exhausted.”
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“In those days there was no hair and makeup — you just did your hair, you put on a dress, and you went,” Midler explained, adding that Davis was “very offended that I had come to this event” without getting glammed up.
“Then she wound up talking the whole night talking to Bob Dylan. I can’t imagine what he said to her,” she added. “I was a little bit hurt.”
Midler went on to reveal that she and her sisters were each named after various Old Hollywood icons.
“We were all named [for actresses] — my sister Judy was Judy Garland, my sister Susan was Susan Hayward, and I was Bette Davis. Although I pronounced it ‘Bet’ and she pronounced it ‘Betty,’” said Midler.
Davis was the legendary star of Hollywood classics such as All About Eve and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice for the films Dangerous (1935) and Jezebel (1938). Davis scored 10 nominations in the category in total.
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Like her namesake, Midler has won numerous prestigious accolades, including four Golden Globes and three Emmys. She was also twice nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars for The Rose (1979) and For the Boys (1991).
Midler recently shared the secret to her nearly 40-year marriage with husband Martin von Haselberg.
“Separate bedrooms,” Midler told Entertainment Tonight on Thursday, July 25, while promoting her new comedy, The Fabulous Four. “My husband snores.”
Midler and von Haselberg tied the knot in December 1984 after six weeks of dating. They have one daughter together, Sophie von Haselberg, who costars in Midler’s latest movie.
“I was more than averse [to let her go into acting],” Midler said while recalling Sophie’s childhood dreams of being an actress like her. “I was frightened for her, and she was just a little girl. I made a terrible mistake by saying, ‘If you go into show business, I’ll kill you.’ And she took it very much to heart. She’s brilliant. She’s great. She’s the love of my life.”
