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Joy Behar Page
Keeping up with Kris Jenner; Interview with Bette Midler
Aired December 26, 2011 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOY BEHAR, HOST: As the matriarch of the Kardashian clan, Kris Jenner is mom and manager to Kim, Kourtney, Khloe, Kendall, Kylie and Rob -- what, they ran out of "K" names? She also is the executive producer and star of the hit E. show "Keeping up with the Kardashians".
Let`s take a look at that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My mom is like all business all the time when we`re hanging out with her, and that`s not how it should be and it didn`t used to be like that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Awesome.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Awesome.
JENNER: Let me take this back to him and see what he thinks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Awesome.
JENNER: That was a business call.
I`m working hard right now so that I can set everybody up for the rest of their lives. My job is to take care of their future.
OK, ladies. Ladies, focus.
Stop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Her new book, "Kris Jenner and All Things Kardashians" details how she went from running a household to running an empire. With me now is the lovely Miss Kris Jenner. I should say Mrs.
JENNER: Yes, I`m a Mrs.
BEHAR: But there was a rumor that you`re going to become Kris Kardashian. We asked your daughters about it and they were like, oh, yes, she`d love that.
JENNER: Yes. Well, I thought about it for a minute. Khloe said, you know, you`re such a fame whore. And I said, you`re right, I`ll keep Jenner.
BEHAR: I love Khloe. Isn`t she great?
JENNER: She loves you.
BEHAR: Yes. We`re like kindred spirits.
(CROSSTALK)
JENNER: The two of you. I had fun with you this morning, by the way, or yesterday morning.
BEHAR: Yesterday morning. Wasn`t that fun?
JENNER: Yes. I want to clear something up with you.
BEHAR: Sure.
JENNER: And apologize. Where is my gift for Miss Joy?
BEHAR: Oh, the blender?
JENNER: You mentioned that you needed your blender back and I promised you I would double it. So here are your two blenders.
BEHAR: Well, thank you very much.
JENNER: I want you to have a blast with these, OK?
BEHAR: Well, you know, you send a wedding gift 72 days later. It`s over. You want the blender back.
JENNER: That`s right. So, here you go. And I upped you one, OK?
BEHAR: I know. I know. I`ll re-gift this one.
JENNER: Perfect. Perfect.
BEHAR: Can you take this, please?
JENNER: Yes. Perfect.
BEHAR: Thank you very much, Kris. That`s so thoughtful of you.
JENNER: Oh, no worries. Just wanted you to be happy, Joy. That`s all I care about.
BEHAR: I am. Listen, you know -- Khloe -- what`s her name - Kim. I get them all mixed up.
JENNER: I know. Me, too. How do you think I feel?
BEHAR: But the girls have been having a terrible week. The whole family is. But in a way, it`s not a terrible week. Look at all the publicity you`re getting.
JENNER: You know what? What`s important to me is that Kim is OK and that she is happy and that she is going to get through this. And as I told her and I said to you the other day. You know, she is not the first person to go through a divorce. She`s not going to be the last.
Yes, this is a horrible time but she had a very difficult decision to make and it`s for me to stand by her. Who am I to judge her or tell her what she should and shouldn`t do?
BEHAR: Right.
JENNER: That is what she felt was necessary right now and I just want her to be OK, you know.
BEHAR: But when she was dating the guy, like they dated only a few months, right? Did you say to her, you know, listen, Kim, you need more than four months or whatever before you get to know somebody and marry him? Did you say anything like that to her?
JENNER: Well, I would have if I hadn`t met and married Bruce Jenner in five months.
BEHAR: Oh, so the apple doesn`t fall far from the tree.
JENNER: Exactly. I mean, I am here to tell you that was 21 years ago. You know, 20 1/2 years ago. And I`ve been married for 20 years and I have an amazing relationship and marriage and I think Bruce and I found a way to make marriage work.
I wasn`t as lucky the first time. I wasn`t as mature. I didn`t understand myself. I would, you know, I made stupid decisions. But Khloe met Lamar and 30 days later they were married. She got married in nine days. She gave me to plan a wedding. And, you know, I waited for one of the girls to get married for a long time and then one of them says, OK, you get nine days. And I`m like, thanks a lot.
BEHAR: So it`s like it is a tradition in the family.
JENNER: It must run in the family. Who would -- you know, it never dawned on me that if she felt the way she felt and she was telling me this was the guy, it wasn`t for me to second guess her because I had done the same thing.
BEHAR: But, you know, 72 days. Did Kim give it a shot? Did she try to save it? Did she do anything to try to keep it going?
JENNER: I don`t know about that. She`s in Australia. This has happened so fast. She`ll be home in a couple of days and we can get into that.
BEHAR: She is coming back?
JENNER: Yes. It`s shocking that she is but she is a very brave girl.
BEHAR: Because I thought, you know, not that I would be so cynical, but I thought, you know, get out of town before, you know, while this is all going on. It seems a little bit convenient that she`s in Australia right now.
JENNER: I know. Doesn`t it? Honestly, and honest to God, she had these things planned and these obligations months and months and probably six, eight months ago. You know, this was all planned. It`s part of her line of stuff and she didn`t want to disappoint anybody else.
She has a lot of guilt because she feels like she disappointed a lot of people and she didn`t want to keep going on. She just wants to make, you know, everybody happy. And that`s part of Kim`s problem is she`s got such a big heart.
BEHAR: Yes. Well, you know, Kris, I could see people chatting about this.
JENNER: Oh, yes.
BEHAR: They`re suspicious. They think it`s a big scam. They don`t buy it. They don`t believe it. It`s a reality show -- da-da-da-da-da. Everybody`s buzzing about it.
What I don`t really get is how people are taking this so personally. It`s just so -- it`s like they`re betrayed. I don`t get that exactly because it`s -- why -- it`s not like you know these people personally.
JENNER: Well, you know, Kim has a very special relationship with her fans. She is on Twitter and her blog and she really is passionate about them. And they have invested a great deal of time and energy. They have started -- they signed up for this on this train with us from day one.
BEHAR: Right.
JENNER: And they have gone all the way through these relationships and the kids growing up. Kendall and Kylie grew up on the show.
BEHAR: So they take it very personally?
JENNER: Yes, yes. And we have shown them the birth of my grandbaby and we have shown them -- you know, the things that have happened in our lives and weddings and whatnot. And, you know, they believed in Kim and this love that she had. She`s a hopeless romantic. She wears her heart on her sleeve and suddenly this. None of us really saw it coming, you know.
BEHAR: Yes.
JENNER: And so, she feels like she owes them not only an apology for, you know, but she wants to be honest.
BEHAR: Do you as a mother feel, you know, is it hard for you to hear negative things about your daughter? Does it break your heart?
JENNER: Well, of course, it breaks your heart. You know, it depends on what you`re hearing, but, you know, it`s very devastating, first of all, to see your child go through something like this. This isn`t easy for Kim. It is not like she just woke up and said, oh, guess what, you know, this is going to happen today.
This was very difficult. And she knew she was going to create some turmoil and some unhappiness and a lot of people were going to be disappointed.
BEHAR: So -- am I to understand that she had no clue that this marriage was going to end very quickly?
JENNER: That is for -- that`s --
BEHAR: You don`t know?
JENNER: I don`t know. I have to be honest. I don`t know everything that`s inside Kim`s head.
BEHAR: If you had a clue to that, if you even have a glimmer of an idea that I`m not sure, then why go through this big, big extravaganza, expensive wedding? Everybody`s watching. Everybody`s invested in it. I mean.
JENNER: Yes, I know. I know.
BEHAR: The gays are mad. The gay community is angry.
JENNER: She loves the gay community.
BEHAR: Well, they`re not angry with Kim exactly but they`re angry with the idea that here`s a heterosexual marriage that went (INAUDIBLE) in 72 days or whatever the word is.
JENNER: Right.
BEHAR: You know. And they can`t get married in most states in this country.
JENNER: And that`s wrong. But Kim, you know, she supports that whole, you know, that marriage and she loves -- she wants everybody to be happy and everybody to have equal rights and everybody to get married if they want to. You know, she wants to be married and have babies and raise a family and have the ideal, you know, all American dream life. That`s what she wants.
BEHAR: Yes.
JENNER: So the fact it didn`t work out, I`m sure, is devastating for her.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: She thought this would be it with this guy?
JENNER: Yes. She married for love. That`s what she said in her statement, you know, and I`m going also by what she said and what she released.
BEHAR: Yes.
JENNER: And she feels like she doesn`t want to be in this position at all. But I give her a lot of credit for -- it`s a very brave thing to do when you know there are going to be people that don`t understand your decision.
BEHAR: Well, do you feel now that, you know, since this whole thing came down that maybe you don`t want to keep putting your lives on TV as much?
JENNER: I don`t feel that way at all, actually.
BEHAR: No?
JENNER: No, actually. I feel like this is something that`s clearly an isolated incident. I don`t think that this happens to everybody. I feel like we`ve been given a gift and what we do and the jobs that we have, the shows that we do, I feel like I`m so blessed.
BEHAR: Yes.
JENNER: And I`m very grateful for everything that we`ve been given and the way that our show has been received in 150 different countries around the world. We are so happy working together as a family. I get to get up every single day and work with all of my kids.
BEHAR: Yes, that`s nice. That`s nice.
JENNER: And it doesn`t get any better than that for me.
BEHAR: If you get along with them especially.
JENNER: Yes, yes. Some of them.
BEHAR: Let me clear up something. When we come back, I want to clear up something, OK. We`ll have much more with Kris Jenner. Don`t go anywhere.
Thank you for those blenders.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: I`m back with the head of the Kardashian empire, Kris Jenner.
You know, one more question about the wedding and then I`ll move on to something else. But there`s been a lot of talk about how much money this wedding cost. And you said on "The View" yesterday that you guys didn`t make any money on it.
JENNER: Well, she didn`t profit.
BEHAR: She didn`t profit.
JENNER: From the wedding.
BEHAR: Why then would you do it? Why do it? You`re a businesswoman.
JENNER: No. She is going to get married.
BEHAR: Yes.
JENNER: We shared it with -- you know, we wanted our network who are very generous to us, by the way, and helped us do that.
BEHAR: Right.
JENNER: You know, we were asked, will you, you know, put it on the show? And of course. So she was going to get married anyway. She is going to -- you know, they`re going to spend money on a wedding one way or another, it doesn`t matter if it`s televised or not. But the point was that she did receive some moneys for certain things and that money was put towards the cost of a wedding. And then she then added more money into that.
So she didn`t walk away with anything in her pocketbook, you know, per se. And I think that because all of those reports were out there from day one, you know, people were like pulling numbers out of the air. I don`t know where some of those figures came from. And the bottom line is they didn`t profit from it and that, you know, was on the front page of a New York newspaper recently.
BEHAR: Yes.
JENNER: And that`s just really unfair to print things when people, the general public, thinks if it`s in a magazine or it`s in the cover of something, it`s absolutely the truth. And that`s just not -- you know, accurate.
BEHAR: Don`t believe everything you read.
JENNER: Exactly.
BEHAR: President Obama recently said that he didn`t want his daughters to watch "The Kardashian" show. Does that feel bad when you hear that?
JENNER: Well, I think what it was Michelle and the girls were watching the show in the White House and he said, you know, he`s not sure that`s his favorite programming that they should be watching.
My take on it is they`re watching "The Kardashians" in the White House so that was kind of a compliment. You know? I thought, wow, go girls. You know?
BEHAR: That`s great. It`s all the way you frame things.
JENNER: Well, you know, and actually my son was on "Jay Leno" recently and he reiterated the same thing. And Jay asked them, are the girls watching, you know, the show in the White House? And he said, yes, you know, they are. And he said, have you seen it? And President Obama said, no, I haven`t. And Jay said, would you recommend it? And Jay said, yes, it`s a good show. I would recommend it.
BEHAR: See?
JENNER: It was really interesting how --
BEHAR: Everybody wins.
JENNER: Yes. Why not? The girls are watching the show so --
BEHAR: OK now, in the book, you also talk about your experience with O.J. Simpson and Nicole Simpson.
JENNER: Yes.
BEHAR: It`s really interesting. You were very close to Nicole over the years when you were married to Robert Kardashian.
JENNER: I was. Very close family friends.
BEHAR: Yes.
JENNER: The day I met Robert, I basically met O.J. because that was his best friend and they were all buddies.
BEHAR: They were buddies, but just to cut to the chase of what happened that day, that horrible day, when Nicole was killed. She called you that day.
JENNER: She called me the day -- well, we talked every day, you know, especially that week because we had a friend who was in rehab that we were checking in on, you know, constantly.
And she called me and said, you know, I want to talk to you, can you meet me? And I couldn`t so we scheduled it for the next day which is unfortunately the day she died.
BEHAR: What do you think that -- what do you think -- she said she wanted to show you something? What did she want to show you? Pictures of --
JENNER: I think she wanted to show me what was in her safety deposit box. So you will read about that in the book because I go into detail about what she intended on telling me and talking about because I got that from, you know, somebody else who told me what she wanted to talk about. And I just, you know, I think anybody in that -- in Nicole`s world at that time and who was friends with Nicole really felt responsible, you know, that -- you know, you feel like, well, wow, I could have done something to prevent this.
BEHAR: Do you think you could have done something?
JENNER: I feel like had she told me what was going on, maybe I could have helped her or -- you know, I`m a mom and I`m a caretaker and I feel like I can heal the world.
BEHAR: Yes. You didn`t -- no clues there, like -- did she say he was hitting her or abusing her in any way?
JENNER: Not to me.
BEHAR: Did you see any signs of it, any, you know, bruises or anything like that.
JENNER: There were some times that you will read about, different occasions that now, you know, in hindsight had made perfect sense. Like I -- I was so confused about certain issues and then it all was crystal clear when I figured out what was going on.
BEHAR: Hindsight, of course.
JENNER: Yes. And so that does make you, you know, have a sense of sadness and guilt, because you didn`t see things that you should have seen.
BEHAR: Of course, Ron Goldman was an innocent bystander who just went over there to drop some sunglasses of and he got in the middle of it.
JENNER: So tragic.
BEHAR: It`s tragic. It could have happened to you if you had gone over there.
JENNER: Anybody, yes.
BEHAR: Do you think O.J. killed her?
JENNER: That`s a complicated -- it`s not a yes or a no for me. So that`s --
BEHAR: Why not?
JENNER: Because it`s just -- you have to get in to it and really read exactly what was going on and what I felt. But I think I am very clear in the end about how I come to that conclusion, but for me, it is just not a yes or a no.
BEHAR: Well, I remember when he was like looking for the real killers -- oh please.
JENNER: Yes. It seems, you know, so -- so distant yet so yesterday for me sometimes. And, you know, I think that all of us feel like we, in hindsight could have, you know, you see it so clearly when something`s already happened and when you look back on it, it was a lot of closure for me to write the book.
BEHAR: Well, I guess it was hard for people to say something because he was a big, big star.
JENNER: Sure.
BEHAR: And probably they must have argued with each other a lot so it seemed like what they call a "folie a deux" you know?
JENNER: Yes.
BEHAR: And maybe you didn`t know. I don`t know. I mean, it`s a hard one to call.
JENNER: Yes. Well, I think what it says to me is --
BEHAR: But your husband Robert --
JENNER: You know, pay attention to your girlfriends, and you know, keep an open eye. If somebody is having problems, maybe there`s a reason for that.
BEHAR: But Robert Kardashian defended him.
JENNER: Yes.
BEHAR: You know, did that -- when he got a not guilty verdict, did you freak out?
JENNER: I think everybody was stunned. You know? Considering the evidence that they had.
BEHAR: Hello.
JENNER: We all saw it unfold in front of our very eyes.
BEHAR: That`s right.
JENNER: And all of us, I mean to this day, it was like what happened? I think that Robert did what he did as a friend. I actually share a letter in my book that Robert wrote me and my children the night before the trial and brought it over. And it was the eve of the trial and he addressed it to me and my kids, and it was a very interesting explanation for why he was doing what he was doing.
BEHAR: Robert?
JENNER: Yes.
BEHAR: Yes. I mean, did you notice you were hanging with them as a young couple that he was -- that he was, like, raging, for instance? Any anger moments.
JENNER: No. No.
BEHAR: You didn`t notice?
JENNER: No.
BEHAR: So he kept it under wraps?
JENNER: He was charismatic and amazing and funny. You always wanted to be around him. He`s one of those magnetic personality.
BEHAR: It could be like, what do you call, Jekyll and Hyde thing.
OK. We`re going to have even more with Kris Jenner in just a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: I`m back with my new best friend, Kris Jenner.
JENNER: Oh, yes, baby.
BEHAR: So, Kris
JENNER: Yes.
BEHAR: First of all, Lindsay Lohan, I have to ask your opinion on this. Because she`s headed back to jail again. Do you have any advice for her? They call her the momager. Is that how you call her? Her mother is her manager like you are with your girls.
JENNER: Yes, she is.
BEHAR: Do you have any advice for her? In the momager.
JENNER: Well, I think you know, Dina`s in a very difficult position. You know, sometimes we have these adult children, and you can`t always control everything that`s going on. And so, therefore, I think she gets blamed for some things that maybe she doesn`t have any control over.
And I think that for me, I don`t want to sit in judgment of somebody else, because I`m not walking in her shoes. But I definitely know on some level of when crazy things start to happen, you know. You feel horrible for your children. And I know that Dina feels, you know, horrible for any one of her kids that are going through a really hard time.
So you just have to love your kids and make sure that they`re given all the support that you can possibly give, you know.
BEHAR: She just posed for "Playboy" just like Kim did before, right. Didn`t Kim pose for "Playboy".
JENNER: Kim did pose for "Playboy".
BEHAR: And it helped her career. So maybe it will help Lindsay.
JENNER: I think it was -- for me, I wanted Kim to do it because it was iconic, and Marilyn Monroe had done it and all these famous actresses who did it very tastefully and gorgeous. So I`m excited to see Lindsay`s photos.
Lindsay, I watched the movie she did, "The Parent Trap" the other day, and I laughed until I cried and then I cried. She`s just a delicious little actress.
BEHAR: She is.
OK. Let`s talk about your neck lift.
JENNER: Yes.
BEHAR: How`s that for a transition?
JENNER: OK. That was pretty good. That was amazing. That`s why they pay you the big bucks.
BEHAR: Yes. Because you`re one of the only people that will talk about plastic surgery.
JENNER: Why not? I mean it`s not like it`s not obvious.
BEHAR: But I do Botox and stuff, and I always say it. I don`t --
JENNER: Yes.
BEHAR: All the comedians. Phyllis Diller will tell you. And Joan Rivers will talk about it, but regular actresses do not.
So your neck is flawless.
JENNER: Thank you.
BEHAR: What is it that they do?
JENNER: What they do -- it`s still healing. So I`ve still got this little line but what they do is they do -- they cut a little muscle here which I didn`t even know they were going to do. My doctor is Garth Fisher who`s an amazing surgeon --
BEHAR: Garth Fisher, write that down.
JENNER: Garth Fisher in Beverly Hills. And they pull the neck up and kind of attach it back in here, so that you have this suddenly, a little bit more youthful appearance. Kim used to walk around and call me a turkey gobble-gobble. And it wasn`t Thanksgiving. You know what I`m saying?
BEHAR: Yes. But it`s better than a facelift because if you pull it up like this, you tend to look like the "Joker".
JENNER: Well, yes. No, he pulled it up, he`s a genius. He took his time. It was like a 10-hour surgery.
BEHAR: I hope so. He could slit your throat.
JENNER: Yes. Hello. Literally.
What I said was don`t touch my eyes. Don`t touch my nose. Don`t touch my mouth. My skin is my skin. I`ve been taking care of it really well my entire life. So when you do -- I wanted to pick one thing, you know.
And I think by talking about it for people, and I do write about it in my book, that it helps women understand that we all have flaws. We all want to make ourselves look and feel better. It`s OK to do something. And by the way, share it with somebody else so they can go to this fabulous doctor or they can do something that you`ve done.
BEHAR: Have you had anything else done?
JENNER: Well, in 1988 I had my boobs done. Does that count? That was a long time ago.
BEHAR: Implants or lifted?
JENNER: Oh, honey, they had to use a crane. I had four kids. And they just pulled those suckers up.
BEHAR: Oh, that`s so.
JENNER: Yes, that`s what I`ve done.
BEHAR: And that`s it?
JENNER: That`s it.
BEHAR: Well, you look great.
JENNER: Thank you. I know you`re going to be wanting that doctor`s number. I`ll give it to you after the break.
BEHAR: My assistant wrote it down. Did you not? She wrote it down. Good. OK.
Thank you Kris for doing this.
JENNER: Thank you.
BEHAR: And good luck for whatever.
JENNER: I appreciate it. Thank you. My girls love you.
BEHAR: They`re coming on, I think -- they`re coming on my show, the whole batch of them.
JENNER: They`ll probably come on once a week and be the co-host.
BEHAR: They should come on more -- just come on all the time.
OK. Her book is called "Kris Jenner and all Things Kardashian". It`s out now.
We`ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: Bette Midler is known for a lot of things. For her music and for her movies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BETTE MIDLER, ACTRESS/SINGER: OK, Elise, the time has come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: For her great concerts.
(MUSIC)
BEHAR: But more than anything else, Bette Midler is known for her subtle, understand, lady-like sense of fashion.
I`m happy to welcome the one and only, Bette Midler.
MIDLER: Thank you. I`m wearing black.
BEHAR: You`re wearing black. Me, too. You`re demure today.
MIDLER: We are.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Before we get to the costume, because I know you`re auctioning off 40 years of costumes that you wore.
MIDLER: Yes. And sets and memorabilia.
BEHAR: And furniture I see in here too.
MIDLER: And furniture. Yes.
BEHAR: And all sorts of stuff.
MIDLER: Yes.
BEHAR: We are going to get to that. But before that, I heard you have a herniated disc.
MIDLER: I do.
BEHAR: How did you -- is it bad and where is it?
MIDLER: I have it -- it`s in my neck, 4 and 5, between C-4 and C-5, as they say. And it`s quite painful. When it first happened to me, I couldn`t raise my arm above this. Get that shot. I mean, it was horrible. I really thought I was going to have to have the operation, but have an operation, but I went to my husband`s doctor and --
BEHAR: What do you call him, the count?
MIDLER: The baron.
BEHAR: The baron.
(CROSSTALK)
MIDLER: He`s a sweet guy. He is the greatest. But he`s had a lot of work done. He`s had a lot of back work done, because he has had -- he had a herniated disc. So he has had back work done, so he took me to his surgeon and his surgeon said, well, I can do this for you, but your voice would be different. So at first, I said, yes, yes, fine. And then I realized, oh. Oh. Can you imagine?
BEHAR: You`re a singer.
MIDLER: I`m a singer, and what am I if I`m not a singer? Who am I?
BEHAR: You`re an actress?
MIDLER: Yes. I know that, but truly people come to hear me sing.
BEHAR: I know.
MIDLER: I gave up on that, and I had a couple of epidurals, and I feel much better. Much, much better. But the epidural, they only last a couple of -- a few weeks.
BEHAR: Did you fall?
MIDLER: No, I didn`t fall. I was doing a Fosse class.
BEHAR: Oh, Fosse, Fosse, Fosse?
MIDLER: Fosse, Fosse, Fosse, Twyla, Twyla, Twyla.
BEHAR: Yes. One of the great scenes from --
MIDLER: I`m still quoting it, from "Birdcage."
BEHAR: "Birdcage."
MIDLER: I felt this twinge and I thought, oh, this will recover because I`ve had twinges all my life. And then I went to boot camp, and the twinge got a little worse. And I thought, oh, this will clear up. It never cleared up. And four weeks after -- four weeks of boot camp, I was practically -- I was a basket case.
BEHAR: So what can we learn from this?
MIDLER: Well, you should exercise, but you should exercise appropriately. And maybe Fosse isn`t really -- maybe Fosse isn`t your choreographer.
BEHAR: Definitely not mine. And they are saying that yoga now, they are saying that yoga doesn`t even help you mentally or spiritually. I hated it anyway.
MIDLER: Well, you know what, I didn`t mind yoga, but I have gotten injuries from yoga. I`m not a fan. I`m not a total fan. Sometimes I do it. I do like the stretching. I think everyone should stretch. You do have to stretch. And I like to do things that get your heart rate up. I really love that, aerobics, I love that, any kind of aerobics, and I love dance. I love, love, love to dance. I think that`s what women want, they want to dance.
BEHAR: They do. But you know.
MIDLER: But not you.
BEHAR: No, I love to dance also in my living room, in the privacy of my own living room, not in a class with everyone watching me.
MIDLER: Oh, these are privates (ph) --
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Not that they`re watching me.
MIDLER: I go to private class. I had a girl in. I didn`t just go to the class. Oh my God, are you nuts?
(CROSSTALK)
MIDLER: I wish I had, I was such a fan. And Gwen Burdon (ph), oh my God, I worshipped her. She was a genius.
BEHAR: Is she alive?
MIDLER: She passed. She passed. But she was an inspiration.
BEHAR: OK. So the back injury prevented you--
MIDLER: Neck injury.
(CROSSTALK)
MIDLER: People say, how`s your back? I say, my back is fine but my neck sucks.
BEHAR: OK. So I read, I read somewhere, in (inaudible) or something, that you couldn`t do this Phil Spector movie because of the neck injury. What a drag.
MIDLER: Well, my dear--
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Are you nuts?
MIDLER: First of all, it was a drag. I was laying in the trailer, literally laying in the trailer weeping. It was really, really hard. It was hard. And I could see that -- I could see that it wasn`t going to get any better unless I really did stop and take care of it. So I did that. I had to say goodbye. It was a nice group of people, too.
BEHAR: What was the part?
MIDLER: I was playing Linda Baden.
BEHAR: I have her on this show all the time.
MIDLER: She is divine. I was playing her.
BEHAR: Really? You don`t look anything like her.
MIDLER: Linda Baden, Kenney Baden, Linda Kenney Baden. I get a little -- because I`m old now.
BEHAR: So who`s playing her now?
MIDLER: Helen Mirren.
BEHAR: Stop that.
MIDLER: Swear to God.
BEHAR: From Bette Midler to Helen Mirren.
MIDLER: Please.
BEHAR: Oh my God.
MIDLER: What do you mean, oh, my God?
BEHAR: Helen Mirren and Linda Baden and Bette Midler, the whole picture --
MIDLER: You`d be amazed at what a wig can do, what a hairdo can do. I think they hired me actually because they saw me with my hair in a way that Linda wears her hair. I think that`s why they hired me. Because -- and I met her subsequently. I`ve had, you know, I`ve been to the house. I saw the photographs, I met the husband, who I adore, and we`ve been to dinner. I really liked her. So that was great. I made a new friend.
BEHAR: OK. Now let`s talk about the New York restoration project.
MIDLER: Yes.
BEHAR: Which you are into, preserving New York City parks. What about this thing that`s going on down in Zuccotti Park?
MIDLER: I think it`s fascinating.
BEHAR: Do you think -- they`re squatting basically there overnight. Are they messing it up, or do you think they should?
MIDLER: The thing about land is that it can always be rehabilitated. Land is just land. Parks can fall to pieces and be brought back to their former glory. Look at Central Park, which was a pit in the early `80s until those women got together and decided they would not stand for it.
BEHAR: Yes. And you`ve cleaned up a lot personally--
(CROSSTALK)
MIDLER: Personally, I have personally, and I have personally taken bags out of the trees. I have personally swept -- I pick -- I go walk down -- and I`m on the Upper East Side, can you imagine. I am personally picking up things. And I don`t know where it comes from, because I have never actually seen anybody do it. But I think they sit in their cars and go like that, and then the garbage lands and they pretend they didn`t do it.
BEHAR: That`s right.
MIDLER: Because I`ve never seen anybody do it actually, I`ve only seen the plop on the sidewalks.
BEHAR: But people are protesting down there, they are saying there are no toilets.
MIDLER: Which is a good thing. You mean the families?
BEHAR: The families around Zuccotti Park don`t like it.
MIDLER: Well, they should chip in and buy some toilets. Toilets are cheap. Port-a-potties are cheap. Excuse me, I`m sorry, let`s not get into that. I don`t want to be nailed because I said port-a-potty. I will send the port-a-potty down.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Don`t put me in this with you.
MIDLER: Don`t put this -- don`t (ph) put me in this with you!
BEHAR: Let me tell you, Sigmund Freud did not want to come to the United States and live because there were no pissoirs here, port-a-potties.
MIDLER: You know, my husband says the same thing all the time. There are no public toilets. There are no public toilets.
BEHAR: Where was he born?
MIDLER: My husband is German.
BEHAR: Oh, sure.
MIDLER: Born in Germany and he lived a long time in England too. There`s no public toilets. Because all over Europe, they have them. But I think they think that there`s -- the element is so dangerous that you`ll go into the potty and you won`t come out. You`ll like live in it.
BEHAR: You`ll just live in there.
But they had to --
(CROSSTALK)
MIDLER: What they do is, after you`re done, the whole thing is a shower, that`s why you can`t stay in it. Because they turn --
BEHAR: Really, you do your business and then it cleans it.
MIDLER: You do your business and then if you don`t get out, you`re wet from head to toe.
BEHAR: Why don`t they just put -- never mind.
MIDLER: You know what, it`s very interesting, because they put one in ten years ago, 13 years ago right down there by Wall Street.
BEHAR: Oh, they did.
MIDLER: They did. And it was a resounding flop.
BEHAR: Why?
MIDLER: I think nobody wanted to go into it. People were afraid someone was waiting for them in there. I don`t know.
BEHAR: Hedge funders don`t pee?
MIDLER: They have private toilets. They have keys to their -- don`t you know that?
BEHAR: I don`t know that. I don`t do down there.
MIDLER: The agents (ph) have keys.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: I don`t go down to Wall Street. There`s no reason for me to go down there.
MIDLER: You don`t? But it`s fascinating. There is so much history down there.
BEHAR: But now I`ll go down because of--
(CROSSTALK)
MIDLER: Wait a minute, I have to talk to you about this Fulton Fish Market that used to be down there and all those brilliant parks that are down there and Battery Park and Hudson River Park, all that area is extraordinary. You should walk down there.
BEHAR: I`ve been there. I grew up in Brooklyn. I`m been to the Fulton Fish Market. You grew up in Hawaii, so to you, the Fulton is so exotic. It`s so exotic. To me, it`s just a bunch of fish.
Now, you know, the thing about these protests -- I want to talk to you --
MIDLER: I know you are going to -- I am going to get the crap kicked out of me, I am.
BEHAR: No, we are of a certain age, shall we say, so we remember--
MIDLER: I`m much younger than you.
BEHAR: -- the `60s protests.
MIDLER: Yes. And we did it all the time. And it was like something that you did. You did it because you were a citizen and you had something to say and you wanted to support your point of view.
BEHAR: But they`re sort of doing the same things, saying things about this group, some of the right wing, saying they`re unwashed and they are druggies.
MIDLER: It`s so shocking that they`re saying this. It`s like they took a book, a page out of like 1969, it`s like so old school that they would say such a thing. I mean, close to 50 years have passed, get a new line.
BEHAR: Get a new line.
MIDLER: Than dirty hippie.
BEHAR: But I used to feel like this generation, the new generation since we came up, like they didn`t want to protest. Now I`m so happy.
MIDLER: I`m thrilled, I`m thrilled, I have to say. Now, you may or may not agree with their politics, but the point is that they have organized themselves -- organized themselves and they are saying things that have to be said.
BEHAR: That`s right.
MIDLER: People don`t just go form a group and not say something that has to be said. They`re not just talking about fashion, they are talking about the way you live and policies that have affected everybody, that everyone wants and all these things that people want -- a lot of people want to sweep under the rug. It`s time to take out the rug and show the light of day.
BEHAR: And what about this other business, talking about politics now, Rick Perry now is saying that -- because you`re from Hawaii -- he`s now saying he`s not sure -- basically he`s not sure where President Obama was born.
MIDLER: I don`t think Rick Perry is sure where he was born. Rick Perry is so -- Rick Perry is a really odd duck. It`s like so -- that piece of business was put to rest. He showed them the birth certificate. I mean, it was most -- they reduced him to that indignity, something that no president, no sitting president has ever had to do, and I for one was completely ashamed to be an American at that time. I thought it was absolutely disgusting.
BEHAR: Even Karl Rove -- even Karl Rove is reprimanding Rick Perry at this point.
MIDLER: Even Karl -- well, Rick Perry has executed more people than anyone has executed down there.
BEHAR: In Texas.
MIDLER: And he also presided over the worst wildfires in the history of wildfires in our country. And then he cut the firefighters. He cut the firefighters.
BEHAR: He also doesn`t believe basically in climate change. He`s going to burn up before he admits there`s no climate change.
MIDLER: How about that drought they`ve got going down there?
BEHAR: I know, how about that?
MIDLER: How about the wildfires? There`s over a million acres burning.
BEHAR: I know. It`s a mess. You must feel bad about that because you`re such an environmentalist.
MIDLER: Sometimes I get so--
BEHAR: When we come back, we are going to have much more with Bette Midler, so don`t go away.
MIDLER: No, I don`t want anymore.
BEHAR: Yes, you do.
You know you want it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
BEHAR: That was a look at Bette Midler in the movie "The Rose," which got her an Oscar nomination. That was a hard, a tough role.
MIDLER: That was so much fun.
BEHAR: Was it your first?
MIDLER: Not tough at all. That was the first--
BEHAR: It wasn`t tough?
MIDLER: No, it was the greatest experience I ever had up until that time. It is fantastic. Just thrilling.
BEHAR: You weren`t scared at all? It was a big part.
MIDLER: It was a part I was born to play.
BEHAR: You were.
MIDLER: I was. And I resisted it for a long time, because I thought, I don`t know, maybe it`s too close to -- you know, people kept saying, well, it`s Janis, and I kept saying, well, no, it`s not Janis, because if I had said it is Janis, then I never could have done it. So I sort of made it up on my own. I sort of like made my peace with it and I sort of like - - I had been on the road -- you know, by that time I had been on the road 12 or 13 years, so -- and I had seen all that happen. I had seen people come, rise to the top and then self-destruct. So I knew the road pretty well.
BEHAR: Yes?
MIDLER: Yes.
BEHAR: I mean, we are seeing so much of that nowadays.
MIDLER: So many.
BEHAR: Amy Winehouse.
MIDLER: I`m broken-hearted over Amy Winehouse.
BEHAR: That was terrible.
MIDLER: I was broken-hearted.
BEHAR: She seemed to be on the mend also, and then she just--
MIDLER: You know, I think that -- it`s very interesting, there`s certain kinds of drug abuse that you simply cannot -- she was a tiny little thing and her little body just couldn`t take it. She just couldn`t -- you see these big strong strapping guys -- who go -- look at Keith! Look at Keith Richards. Did you read his book?
BEHAR: Yes.
MIDLER: Keith Richards.
BEHAR: He`s a tiny little thing.
MIDLER: He`s a tiny -- now, he`s a tiny little thing. Then he was a little bit taller. But I mean, he, look what he lived through. But he survived it all.
BEHAR: But look at Michael Jackson, we are talking about him all the time now with the Conrad Murray trial. He didn`t make it.
MIDLER: You know, I can`t watch that trial. I can`t watch it.
BEHAR: Why not?
MIDLER: You know what, he`s gone. Nothing is going to bring him back. What`s the use? What`s the point?
BEHAR: I know.
MIDLER: And I must say Michael Jackson had a say in that, too. Michael Jackson was right in there collaborating with the doctor.
BEHAR: Well, we found out just today I think or yesterday that he was asking for Propofol from a nurse. So he wanted to sleep. The poor guy couldn`t sleep.
MIDLER: I know exactly how it feels. I`m in menopause, I haven`t slept in years. Oh my God, I can`t talk about it, but--
BEHAR: I know. You will never sleep again. Once you hit 50, you do not sleep.
(CROSSTALK)
MIDLER: And I have like a whole thing that I do, I have like a thing, you know, my ritual. I was in Morocco on my birthday last year, and I was desperate to sleep. So I said to the people who were at the hotel, what do you do to sleep? And they said lemon verbana tea. So we got lemon verbana tea. You get it at Calustian (ph) on 27th street, big packet, you brew it, and that will put you to sleep. It won`t keep you asleep for more than four hours, but it will put you to sleep. I couldn`t even get to sleep.
BEHAR: Yes.
MIDLER: So now at least I can.
BEHAR: I think it`s a terrible thing when you can`t fall asleep. He was in terrible psychic pain.
MIDLER: I know, I know.
BEHAR: OK, now, speaking of your career, over the past 40 years, you have saved all these wonderful costumes, shoes and jewelry which you have brought. Now, are you a hoarder?
MIDLER: You know, I`m embarrassed to say -- I don`t like to call myself that, but I think I must have been.
BEHAR: You have hoarder tendencies.
MIDLER: My mother -- my mother was a hoarder. They weren`t like -- they -- well, I don`t want to diss my parents because I love my parents, but they did tend not to give things away. And my mother bought -- my mother was one of the first Salvation Army people. She went to Salvation Army when I was in 7th grade and she never returned. I mean, I went -- everything I wore was from the Salvation Army.
BEHAR: Oh, really?
MIDLER: Yes. Remember Barbra Streisand`s song, look, there goes my old fur coat? That was my life. And I mean, that was how I was brought up, and I was terribly mortified about it. But as it turns out, in my personal life, I have nothing in my house, I have nothing, I don`t collect. But my costumes, I`m so attached to them.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Let`s look at what you brought. Tell me about the mermaid costume.
MIDLER: Well, I`ve been doing this character since the early `80s. She is a kind of a foul-mouthed disco -- she is a disco queen. She only sings disco music, she rides around in a wheelchair because obviously she`s a fish out of water, she can`t walk. And her whole thing is that she is in show business, and is going to stay in show business, she has some friends that she does this act with. And it`s always a disco act, and it`s always utterly ridiculous, and we always do patterns on the floor, and sometimes we play musical instruments. And she -- that was from my last show, "Show Girl Must Go On."
BEHAR: Yes, I saw it.
MIDLER: And that was probably the last time I will ever do that character.
BEHAR: Doesn`t Lady Gaga have --
(CROSSTALK)
MIDLER: She tried. And I gave her hell. But she was very contrite. I was only teasing, really.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: -- wasn`t it an homage?
MIDLER: I felt it was.
BEHAR: It`s an homage.
MIDLER: I was actually thrilled. I mean, what -- I was thrilled, I was thrilled, because she`s actually -- she`s a really sweet girl. And she`s very talented.
BEHAR: She`s a nice girl. She`s a nice Italian girl.
MIDLER: She is. What can you say?
BEHAR: So do you want her to bid on that?
MIDLER: I wish. I told -- I`ve been going around town saying that if she wants the whole act, I can give her the chorus kids, I can give her the wheelchair. She can buy the chorus kids, she can buy the wheelchair, and she can buy the actual music if that`s what she wants.
BEHAR: I think you would sell these more readily if they were in a 26 petite. I can`t believe you were such a skinny bitch in those days.
MIDLER: I was so tiny.
BEHAR: You were tiny.
MIDLER: In fact, I pulled a dress from the auction because I couldn`t believe how small I was when I wore it. I was --
(CROSSTALK)
MIDLER: I have to have this, I can`t believe I was ever this thin.
BEHAR: But you`re always thin to me. Except one period you had where you buffed up a little bit.
MIDLER: Well, not buffed up. Chubbed up.
BEHAR: Well, you chubbed up. And you were on the Johnny Carson Show, I remember this, and you sang a song called "Fat as I Am."
MIDLER: "Fat as I am."
BEHAR: Love it.
MIDLER: Who wants to see a diva fat as I am?
BEHAR: OK. We`ll be right back with a little more with Bette Midler.
MIDLER: Just a little more?
BEHAR: Yes, sorry to say.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: I`m back with the Divine Miss M.
MIDLER: And look at you.
BEHAR: And she`s showing me pieces that she`s collected over her career, which are now being auctioned off. OK. Oh, it`s quite stunning.
MIDLER: Well, you know, you really do have to work it, hon. You can`t just let it get into your mouth, I mean, you have to just --
BEHAR: I`ve heard that before.
MIDLER: And, you know, it`s quite becoming, it`s a good color for you. Good color for you.
BEHAR: OK. So tell me about this other one. You have a --
MIDLER: Which one?
BEHAR: You have one designed by Bob Mackey.
MIDLER: This one over here, the short one is a Bob Mackey one. He called it the bird of paradise, and it really was a bird because these are -- the sleeves are feathers, and they`re wings, and then there was kind of like a parrot head dress that seems to have found -- it`s gone to (inaudible), we can`t find that part. But the dress is really interesting because it lights so brilliantly. And I really looked like I was on fire when I came out. And I was dating a guitar player at the time. Yes, I was.
BEHAR: Is he still alive?
MIDLER: He is still alive. He managed to survive. And although we don`t talk about him in my house. And --
BEHAR: What about the black and white one? How do you breathe in that dress?
MIDLER: That dress is one of my favorite dresses, of course. It`s a Bob Demara (ph) designed it. It was the cover of Bathhouse Betty. It`s kind of an homage to Mae West, because I stood on a bunch of apple boxes like she used to do. You know, she was only this big.
BEHAR: She was tiny.
MIDLER: She was tiny. And I also wore it during the Divine Miss Millennium, which was the show that turned from 1999 to the next century.
BEHAR: And who were you dating then?
MIDLER: I was married then.
BEHAR: Oh. So here you have a head dress and shoes. Where is that?
MIDLER: I have a head dress.
(CROSSTALK)
MIDLER: These are shoes -- you know, these are actually quite iconic. Cher gave these to me when I first came to town, first came to L.A. in about 19 -- I guess -- and -- you couldn`t walk in them. You just couldn`t walk in them.
(CROSSTALK)
MIDLER: They`ve come back. As my mother said many years ago, never throw anything away because in 20 years, it will be back.
BEHAR: She`s right. She`s absolutely right.
MIDLER: So they`re back. And I`m proud of them. And they`re my daughter`s favorite, but she decided to let me let them go.
BEHAR: Sophie, how is the girl doing?
MIDLER: She`s darling. She`s fabulous.
BEHAR: Is she married yet?
MIDLER: She`s not married not yet.
BEHAR: Is she going to be married? Do you care?
MIDLER: I -- let`s not talk about it, OK, Joy?
BEHAR: I`m sorry. OK. Here`s a question from Facebook. Are you really retiring?
MIDLER: I`m not retiring. I never said I was retiring. I said I was selling my mementos.
BEHAR: That`s right. Here`s a good question. Ask her if she was drunk when she had sex with Geraldo. He wrote about that.
MIDLER: He did?
BEHAR: He wrote about that in his book. Or you did, one of you did.
MIDLER: He did? I didn`t write about sex with Geraldo. Ew.
BEHAR: But is it true, Bette? Did you have sex with Geraldo?
MIDLER: I had sex with him, but I don`t think I would write about it. It was nothing to write home about. There was nothing to write about.
BEHAR: The ultimate diss. Geraldo, the ultimate diss.
MIDLER: He was cute in those days, though.
BEHAR: He was adorable.
MIDLER: He was cute.
BEHAR: All right, listen, Bette--
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Well, whatever. Listen, send the feathers to him. This is -- I love this thing.
MIDLER: It does wonders for you.
BEHAR: It makes everybody look more fabulous.
MIDLER: You know, I think you should wear that -- you should make that a signature.
BEHAR: I think I`ll wear this to bed tonight.
MIDLER: Please. Like, bid on it, please.
BEHAR: OK. Fine. Bette Midler`s auction presented by Julien`s Auctions of Beverly Hills takes place on November 12th. The auction benefits the New York restoration project, a really good benefit. Go to juliensauctions.com for details. Thank you for watching. Good night, everybody.
END
