People
Bette Midler Reflects on Upcoming 80th Birthday: ‘I’m No Longer a Spring Chicken’
By Virginia Chamlee and Lex Goldstein
Oct 28, 2025
Bette Midler is reflecting on turning 80 and mourning the recent loss of her The First Wives Club co-star, Diane Keaton.
On Oct. 24, 2025, at the annual Hulaween gala to benefit the New York Restoration Project — which Midler founded in 1995 as a way to broaden access to green spaces for underserved communications in New York — Midler touched on her age.
Calling the 30th annual event “moving,” Midler joked while accepting the gala’s Catalyst Award, “I know what you’re thinking: you’re 77, you’re nearly 80. Do you need a chair? No.”
“But yes, it’s true — I’m no longer a spring chicken,” Midler, who is 79 and will turn 80 in December, continued. “I’m no longer a summer chicken. I’m not even a fall chicken. I’m an endangered chicken at this point. However, I am honored to accept the Catalyst Award tonight because I did do something. I did. I actually did do something.”
Elsewhere in her speech, Midler said, “You know, when you’re old, you remember the old things better than you remember yesterday. You don’t remember what you ate yesterday, but you remember what it felt like to dig in a filthy park and to remove debris and to be amongst people who were like-minded. You really remember that.”
