Missed This: Bette Midler Meets Friends In W Village Aug 2024

Daily Mail
Bette Midler, 78, dons multi-patterned top with Capri jeans in NYC after revealing she’d love to star in a sequel to her hit 1988 film Beaches
By Cassie Carpenter
Aug 6, 2024

Bette Midler braved New York City’s 98F-degree humid summer weather in a colorful outfit in order to meet up with friends in Manhattan’s West Village neighborhood on Tuesday.

The 78-year-old Divine Miss M – who’s only an Oscar away from EGOT status – hailed a cab while clad in a multi-patterned top with colorfully-cuffed Capri jeans, brown sandals, and a grey purse with her natural silver locks on rare display.

Bette – who famously sold her $50M Fifth Avenue apartment in 2021 – had a ‘fantastic’ time taking part in Third Act’s ‘Elders for Kamala’ Zoom call on Monday night alongside Jane Fonda, Bernie Sanders, and John Kerry.

‘An hour of pure eloquence; so moving,’ Midler – who boasts 3.6M social media followers – tweeted about the fundraiser for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

‘For our planet, and for every living thing. Yes, we are older, but we are not done yet! We are going to become the ancestors our descendants need us to be. Be sure to join us for the next one… stay tuned!’

Last month, the Honolulu-born belter revealed she would love to reprise her role as singer C.C. Bloom in a sequel to her hit 1988 tear jerker about longtime female friendship, Beaches, co-starring Barbara Hershey.

‘I kind of would like to revisit her, but in a completely different way. I mean, obviously the years have taken their toll, or whatever. I’ve aged, the character has got to be my age,’ Bette told Newsweek.

‘That and the songs, the music that would be available to me at this point. Those catalogs are so vast, and these are all songs that people, three or four generations haven’t heard of now. Never heard. And of course, they don’t really seek it out because it’s not cool. So it would be great if I could revisit that character at this age. I think it would be marvelous and the songs would be great.’

Garry Marshall – who passed away in 2016 – directed the big-screen adaptation of Iris Rainer Dart’s 1985 novel, which earned $57M at the global box office from a $20M budget.

When audiences last saw Midler’s admittedly selfish, bawdy character C.C. she had gained primary physical custody of her late friend’s daughter Victoria Essex (Grace Johnston).

The Sitting in Bars with Cake actress would also like Disney to hurry up with the script for the proposed three-quel to the Hocus Pocus trilogy co-starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy.

‘I haven’t seen the script, but, I’ve heard rumblings,’ Bette told Busy This Week on July 10.

‘I think if they’re gonna, they oughta, because time is not just marching, time is barrel-***ing to the finish line. Get us while we’re still breathing, I mean, god!’

Midler was disappointed when Family Jewels, the sequel to her hit 1996 movie The First Wives Club with Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton ‘never took off.’

The Hulaween host currently plays widow-turned-bride Marilyn in Jocelyn Moorhouse’s comedy The Fabulous Four, which has only earned $2.5M at the box office since hitting US theaters on July 26.

‘They asked me because I think they needed a ham, a big ole ham,’ Bette told Newsweek.

‘I was kind of trussed up like a Christmas goose, as they say, because I’m not just comic relief, I’m also the biggest conflict. I’m the biggest mystery because I behave in ways that are so crazy. It has all the elements of farce. It has the physical comedy that people hope for and are surprised that women of a certain age are doing.’

And while The Fabulous Four has a dismal 27% critic approval rating (out of 44 reviews) on Rotten Tomatoes, audiences rated it far better with a 71% score.

Midler’s 37-year-old daughter Sophie von Haselberg managed to score the role of Amanda in the sexy seniors flick about life-long friends (Susan Sarandon, Megan Mullally, and Sheryl Lee Ralph) reuniting in Key West, FL.

The Kennedy Center Honoree and performance artist Martin von Haselberg will impressively celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary on December 16, and she told ET the secret to their ‘fabulous’ lasting love is ‘separate bedrooms.’

Bette – who gets 1.7M monthly listeners on Spotify – hasn’t released a full-blown record since her 14th studio album It’s the Girls, which spawned her 32-date Divine Intervention Tour in 2015 immediately followed by the compilation album A Gift of Love.