She Knows
BETTE’S BEST PARENTING ADVICE
December 25, 2012
Bette Midler and Billy Crystal play a pair of comical grandparents to Marisa Tomei’s three rambunctious kids in the holiday film Parental Guidance. Hear what the three stars had to say about parenting and grand-parenting in real life.
Bette Midler isn’t a grandma yet, but she can’t wait to be one.
“I can’t wait,” Midler told SheKnows, of her hopes that 26-year-old daughter Sophie will have kids one day. “I’ve been nagging her since she was 15. Every time I talk about it I say, ”˜I’m going to grab that kid and I’m running away with it.’ And of course she’s like, ”˜Just stop it, would you?’ Because she knows I will.”
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In the film, Midler and Billy Crystal both play the “old school” grandparents to Marisa Tomei’s tight-laced, New Age mother figure. While Tomei’s character has the kids on sugar-free diets, Crystal’s character gives them cake. While Tomei dresses her daughter conservatively, Midler wants to get her a sequin cocktail dress.
But it appears Midler and her character both know best. Tomei told us Midler and Crystal both worked great with the kids.
“I had a lot of laughs watching Bette teach Kyle,” said Tomei. “We were all trying to get him to say this one line, and somehow she’s the one who got him to say it. They were great with the kids. They are really funny, really warm people.”
Crystal, who has grandchildren, told us the movie really resonated with him because he is currently in his “grandparent phase.” Unlike his character, though, he says he is enjoying it more.
“Babies make you feel young,” he told SheKnows. “That was going to be the tagline on the poster: ”˜Grandparents, your second chance to screw somebody up.’ ”
But Crystal and Midler seem to have a grounded grasp of valuable parenting techniques, so we doubt they’re actually screwing anybody up. When asked the most important lesson their own parents taught them, Crystal told us, “My mom said listen to them. Use your common sense.”
And Midler chimed in with, “Don’t think that they’re you. And they’re not yours. You’re just getting them ready to give to the world.”
It sounds like Midler is going to make a fabulous grandma one day.
Don’t miss Billy Crystal, Bette Midler and Marisa Tomei in Parental Guidance in theaters opening Christmas Day!
