Bette Midler's Husband Is Cooking Champion

Singer and actress Bette Midler is thrilled with her choice of husband - because he does all of the household cooking.

Midler, whose 19-year marriage to MARTIN VON HASSELBERG has produced a 17-year-old daughter called SOPHIE, has happily allowed her spouse to take control of the kitchen since they first got together.

She says, "When we first got married, he said, 'I'm in charge of the food,' and I said, 'Damn right you are!' And he's never stopped. He cooks every night. Once a week, maybe, we got out.

"He's a great cook and, as the years have gone by, he's had speciality dishes and he's gone to lots of cooking schools all around the world - or at least that's what he says he's doing!"

But the OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE star once had to learn the hard way that she should leave culinary duties to her husband.

She recalls, "One time, when we had Thanksgiving, he allowed me in the kitchen and I claimed that I made a better turkey than he did, so we had duelling turkeys. I steamed and baked mine and he roasted his.

"When we were getting ready to serve he dropped his and it skidded across the floor and I said, 'Ha! I win!' But he picked it up and dusted it off and he served it and it was still better than mine!"