05/01/2026
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The Divine Miss M came home to New York and found her city drowning in garbage. So she grabbed a shovel and planted a million trees.
Bette Midler turned 80 this week. You know her voice. You've cried through "Beaches." You've quoted "Hocus Pocus" every Halloween.
But ask someone from the Bronx what Bette Midler means to them, and they won't mention Grammys.
They'll tell you about the garden she saved on their block.
Born in Honolulu in 1945, Bette Davis Midler grew up in a working-class family. Her father painted houses. Her mother was a seamstress. They taught their daughter that work worth doing was work that helped people.
She discovered performance early and made her way to New York. She sang at the Continental Baths—a gay bathhouse—where she built a following that would change her life.
"I'm still proud of those days," she said decades later. "I feel like I was at the forefront of the gay liberation movement."
In 1972, she released "The Divine Miss M" and won the Grammy for Best New Artist.
Then came 1979 and "The Rose."
She'd never starred in a major film before. But her performance as a self-destructive rock star earned her an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe.
The 1980s brought hit comedies. Then "Beaches" in 1988—the movie that made a generation cry.
"Wind Beneath My Wings" topped the charts. Won her a third Grammy. Became the anthem of every friendship that ever mattered.
"Hocus Pocus" became a Halloween tradition. "The First Wives Club" became a battle cry.
She won a Tony at 71 for "Hello, Dolly!"
And through it all, Bette Midler never forgot what her parents taught her.
In 1995, she came home to New York and was horrified by what she saw.
The parks in the city's poorest neighborhoods were buried in garbage. Community gardens were being abandoned. Green spaces were disappearing.
Officials shrugged. Budget cuts. Not enough resources. Nothing to be done.
Bette Midler didn't shrug.
She founded the New York Restoration Project and grabbed a shovel.
She didn't just write checks. She recruited friends and family to Fort Tryon Park and Fort Washington Park. They hauled garbage. They cleared brush. They planted flowers.
What city officials said would take a decade, her team did in three years.
In 1999, New York planned to auction 114 community gardens for commercial development.
The gardens in the Bronx, in Harlem, in neighborhoods where green space was already scarce.
Midler led the fight to save them.
NYRP took ownership of 52 of the most at-risk gardens, ensuring they would remain community sanctuaries forever.
In 2007, she partnered with the city to plant one million trees across New York.
One million trees.
In forgotten neighborhoods. On overlooked streets. In places where nobody expected a Hollywood star to show up with dirt under her fingernails.
To date, her organization has planted tens of thousands of trees, restored dozens of parks, and maintained over 50 community gardens across all five boroughs.
She personally fundraises millions every year. She leads donor tours. She opens newly restored gardens herself.
For this work, she received the Rachel Carson Award and became an honorary member of the American Society of Landscape Architects.
In 2014, at 68, she released "It's the Girls!"
It debuted at number three on the Billboard 200—her highest chart position ever.
She became only the second woman in history, after Barbra Streisand, to have top 10 albums in five consecutive decades.
At 80, she's still going.
She reprised her role in "Hocus Pocus 2" in 2022. She still champions NYRP's mission. She still shows up.
Bette Midler didn't just entertain. She didn't just succeed.
She transformed.
From the Continental Baths to Carnegie Hall. From "The Rose" to the roses blooming in community gardens across the Bronx.
She proved you can be brash and vulnerable. Campy and sincere. Wildly famous and deeply committed to the forgotten.
She proved you can win Grammys and plant trees. Earn standing ovations and pull weeds. Be a star and still get your hands dirty for the people and places that need it most.
Happy 80th birthday to the Divine Miss M.
Because true legends don't just shine.
They make sure everyone around them gets a chance to bloom.
