If you thought entering your 70s meant you had to tone things down in the style department, think again.
Hollywood legend Bette Midler, 72, put on a stunning display in a shimmering red gown as she attended the Golden Heart Awards in New York City on Tuesday. The Hocus Pocus actress sizzled in the glamorous gown, finishing off the scorching look with a pair of metallic-gold heels, looking every bit the Hollywood star that she is.
The outspoken comedian also sported a drastically different hair-do, opting for a sweeping fringe for the occasion, with her short hair flicked out around her face. She also opted for flawless make-up, keeping things simple with black eyeliner and a red lip.
Midler completed the wildly glamorous look with simple gold accessories, adding a silver book-style clutch to the ensemble.
Her glammed-up appearance comes after the Beaches star caused quite the stir on social media last week. Bette felt the wrath from thousands of social media users on Friday after she shared a controversial and “harmful” post appearing to compare women’s rights to the oppression of African-Americans.
The actress took inspiration from Beatles star John Lennon’s 1972 song with Yoko Ono, titled ‘Woman Is the N***** of the World’, to slam the treatment of women in society – appearing to claim that they’re now just as disrespected as some African-Americans have been in the past.
Posting the quote: “Women, are the n-word of the world,” she added: “Raped, beaten, enslaved, married off, worked like dumb animals; denied education and inheritance; enduring the pain and danger of childbirth and life IN SILENCE for THOUSANDS of years. They are the most disrespected creatures on earth.”
Her followers immediately expressed shock and outrage at her insensitive comparison, with one Twitter user commenting: “YIKES, Bette. There is no reason for any of us to EVER invoke that word, or to assume that our experiences of sexism are the same as black people’s experiences of racism.”
Midler has since deleted the tweet and posted an agitated apology, which she also deleted hours later and replaced with a second apology in an attempt to explain what she meant with the original post.
She wrote: “I gather I have offended many by my last tweet. ‘Women are the…etc’ is a quote from Yoko Ono from 1972, which I never forgot. It rang true then, and it rings true today, whether you like it or not. This is not about race, this is about the status of women; THEIR HISTORY.”