Bette Midler is supporting her daughter's artistic endeavors.
Speaking with PEOPLE at the CDGA Awards in Los Angeles on Monday, the Beaches star, 77, discussed the expanding career of her only child Sophie von Haselberg, and whether she gave her daughter any advice when she first became an actress.
"No, I didn't give her any advice, but I have to say she was in this movie. It just opened, called Give Me Pity!, and she plays a '70s performer who's doing a special — you remember the specials?" Midler told PEOPLE on the red carpet, promoting the 36-year-old's latest project.
According to Midler, her daughter is "fantastic" in the film, which follows von Haselberg's Sissy St. Claire, who "graces the small screen for her first ever television special, an evening full of music and laughter, glamour and entertainment," according to an IMDb synopsis. "But Sissy's live event quickly begins to curdle into a psychedelic nightmare."
"And she's wearing clothes that I would've worn," the proud mom told PEOPLE. "I just said, 'Sophie, can I have that wardrobe?' It was great."
When asked if it's tough to watch her daughter navigate a challenging business, Midler said it's somewhere in the middle.
"It is and it isn't. I think that life is challenging for everybody," she explained. "It doesn't matter if you're in the business or if you're in a different arena. It's so hard. It's very different. The last five years have been very challenging for everybody."
Midler said that while she has "tried to feel empathetic, try to allow the empathy in and try to say, 'Well, we're all in the same boat,' it's different."
"People are rising, people are sinking," the Hocus Pocus 2 actress added. "And I'll tell you something: Every doggie has its day. That's life."
Along with her own various roles, Midler also revealed that she has gotten attached to her many costumes over the years.
At the famed costume gala on Monday — which was also attended by fellow film veterans Cate Blanchett, Angela Bassett and Christina Ricci — the actress said she can't choose a favorite piece of wardrobe.
"Oh my gosh, no, they're all my babies," she told PEOPLE. "I am partial to the mermaids because they had an evolution and they started as rudimentary mermaids and they evolved into the most ridiculous — it was so creative. Oh, and so beautiful."
As for when she herself feels most beautiful? "It's mostly in my own shows," Midler admitted.
"The shows I put together for myself, because those are really the silliest and the most ridiculous and the most fun," she explained. "Red carpet is pretty standard, but your own show is, you know, you speak from the heart."
