Bette Midler and Her Husband Were Married on a Whim by an Elvis Impersonator

On paper, Bette Midler’s marriage to her husband Martin Von Haselberg wouldn’t strike you as one destined for long-term success. In fact, their nuptials had all the ingredients for a failure: The German artist and Honolulu, Hawaii native had only known each other for six weeks when they decided to get married at the “spur of the moment”. They eloped to Las Vegas and were married at 2 a.m. by an Elvis impersonator for $45. And (allegedly) no pictures were taken.

“He had a tape of Nino Rota music from Juliet of the Spirits and we walked down the aisle and the Elvis impersonator did the ceremony and we walked out,” the Academy Award-winning actress recalled on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. “And the funny thing is that there were no cell phones, of course, in 1984 and we had no pictures.”

But 36 years later, the Hollywood couple is still going strong. And it turns out, someone did take photos of their wedding. Five years ago, the pair received a surprise in the mail: A photo of them from the fateful 1984 ceremony. “Apparently, there was a photographer there,” the Hocus Pocus star said. “When the Starlight Chapel closed its doors about five years ago, they sent us the pictures. We had never seen the pictures [before].”

Bette Midler met German commodities trader, actor, and artist Martin Von Haselberg for the first time in 1984. He is best known for being a member of The Kipper Brothers, a performance art duo.

Von Haselberg has been with his lady through the thick and thin of her three-decades-long career — from her rise to stardom on Broadway and New York to her conquering of the silver screen in movies like Down and Out in Beverly Hills, The Rose, and For the Boys. He was there to celebrate when she won multiple Oscars, Grammy Awards, Emmy Awards, Golden Globes, and Tony Awards. But perhaps most importantly of all, he was there for Midler as the two of them raised their daughter, Sophie.

Born in Los Angeles, Sophie Von Haselberg is an entertainer, just like her folks — you’d probably know her from Woody Allen’s movie Irrational Man. last year, Sophie just got hitched herself! Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Midler’s daughter was married in a small ceremony. Midler described the wedding in an interview with Manila Bulletin. “It was a pandemic wedding, a very small wedding, and her husband, her new husband, hasn’t had a haircut in three months,” the “Wind Beneath My Wings” singer said. “So she looked online on how to cut hair and she gave him a pretty good haircut. I mean, that is the world we are living in now.”