Bette Midler "always adored" the "inimitable" Diane Keaton

Midler, 79, has since been recalling her fondest memories with Keaton, including how her, Keaton, and their co-star Goldie Hawn, also 79, were "on the floor crying with laughter" every day on the set of the 1996 American comedy classic.

Appearing on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on Thursday (16.10.25), she said: "My favourite [memory] was of course, First Wives Club. We had so much fun on that show.

"I think that was the most fun I ever had because those two girls [Keaton and costar Goldie Hawn], between them, I was on the floor every single day. I was crying with laughter."

She added: "We had a wonderful time."

The Hocus Pocus star says no one has come close to channelling Midler's "giddy style".

Recalling how they met, she shared: "I met her a long, long time ago. A girlfriend introduced me to her and I've always adored her. She was so unique, so special, so completely who she was and inimitable.

"Because I used to go home and try and do that style that she had, that kind of like... you know, giddy [style]. I couldn't do it. Nobody could do it. And I've seen a lot of people come close but nobody has ever done the true... that true spirit that she [had]. She's an extraordinary, extraordinary personality."

Reacting to her co-star's passing, Midler wrote on Instagram: "The brilliant, beautiful, extraordinary Diane Keaton has died. I cannot tell you how unbearably sad this makes me. She was hilarious, a complete original, and completely without guile, or any of the competitiveness one would have expected from such a star. What you saw was who she was... oh, la, lala!"